
H^s" 



/ 



SPEECHES 



AND 



ADDRESSES. 



HENRY W. HILLIARD. 



7/7 







NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1855. 



Er4-15 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and fifty-five, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

in tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
New York. 



TO 



THE HONORABLE WILLIAM C. PRESTON, 

of south carolina. 

My dear Sir, 
A grateful recollection of your many acts of kindness ex- 
tended to me during my course in the South Carolina College, 
while preparing to enter upon the walks of life which you al- 
ready adorned, and the cheering encouragement which you 
gave me when engaged in the study of a profession which 
your eloquence has so nobly illustrated, inspire the wish to 
leave some recorded expression of my exalted estimate of your 
genius and your character, and I therefore 

SnsrriliB tn t{nii tjjis iTnlnmF of mtj IprrtjiPS. 

HENRY W. HILLIARD. 

Montgomery, Ala., February, 1855. 



CONTENTS. 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 
A. Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of Alabama, January, 
1839 Page 9 

THE OREGON QUESTION. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
January 6th, 1846 51 

PAY OF TROOPS TO BE EMPLOYED AGAINST MEXICO. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
July 16th, 184G 78 

THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 
TS- A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 

January 5th, 1847 84 

RELIEF FOR IRELAND. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
March 3d, 1847 114 

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
December 18th, 1847 118 

THE MISSION TO ROME. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
March 4th, 1848 125 

A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON— POLICY OF THE ADMINIS- 
TRATION. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
March 30th, 1848 129 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
April 3d, 1848 151 



VI CONTENTS. 

REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
July 24th, 1848 Page 155 

GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES.— THE NORTH 
AND THE SOUTH. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
February 10th, 1849 195 

SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 

Remarks made in the House of Representatives of tlic United States, De- 
cember 12th, 1849 326 

ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA.— PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S POLICY. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
February 14th, 1850 23G 

EXPLANATION— PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
•March 7th, 1850 263 

DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
July 10th, J850 276 

BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
August 28th, 1850 ogj 

POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARD THE INDIANS. 
A Speech delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
February 20th, 1851 315 

VINDICATION OF MR. WEBSTER. 
Remarks made in the House of Representatives of the United States, Feb- 
ruary 28th, 1851 319 

ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 
A Paper addressed to the People of the Second Congressional District of 
Alabama, declining a re-election to Congress, December 3d, 1850 325 

GENERAL TAYLOR'S CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 
A Speech delivered at the Buena Vista Festival in the Chinese Museum, 
Philadelphia, February 22d, 1848 333 



CONTENTS. Vll 

MASSACHUSETTS AND THE UNION. 
A Speech delivered at a Dinner given to a Committee of Congress by the 
City Council of Boston, March 13th, 1848 Page 343 

AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 
A Speech delivered before the American Institute, at Castle Garden, New 
York, October 14th, 1850 348 

THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 
A Speech delivered in the Musical Fund Hall, Philadelphia, January 3d, 
1851 357 

CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 
An Oration delivered in the Representatives' Hall, before the Legislature 
of Alabama and the Citizens of Tuscaloosa, December 7th, 1832 383 

THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 
An Oration delivered before the Citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, April 
31st, 1841 397 

THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 
An Oration delivered before the Citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, Sep- 
tember, 1853 410 

DANIEL WEBSTER— HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 
An Address before the Literary Club and Citizens of Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, December, 1854 456 

WOMAN— HER TRUE SPHERE. 
An Address delivered at the Commencement of La Grange Female College, 
La Grange, Georgia, July 12th, 1854 4715 



SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF ALABAMA. 
JANUARY, 1839. 

The Resolutions being under consideration, and after Mr. Smith, of Madison, 
had addressed the House, Mr. Milliard rose and said, 

Mr. Speaker, — When I survey the magnitude of 
the question before us, and observe how deeply it af- 
fects the public mind, I experience a sense of respons- 
ibility which is abnost painful. I am about to par- 
ticipate in a discussion which has convulsed the whole 
country, which involves the largest interests of the 
people of the United States, and which must yet ex- 
ert a poAverful influence, for good or for evil, upon 
their fortunes. 

We are, sir, in the midst of a revolution ; not a 
revolution conducted by arms, and accomplishing its 
purposes by the shedding of blood, but a revolution 
in the opinions and feelings of a gi^eat people ; a rev- 
olution, not the less to be feared because it does not 
now call physical force to its aid, for it is moving 
the foundations of society, and it is impossible to say 
where its waves shall be stayed. 

Every thing established and venerable is threaten- 
ed with destruction ; all that wisdom has approved 



10 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

is assaulted ; the most revered lessons of exj)erience 
are desj^ised ; all must bow before that spirit of 
change which deliglits in nothing so much as experi- 
ments upon human society. 

I look with the most unaifected anxiety upon the 
present condition of our country. It seems to me to 
bear a strong resemblance to that which the French 
nation exhibited before the breaking forth of "that 
convulsion which shook their ancient institutions 
with such terrible and destructive power. Every 
philosophical inquirer consents to the opinion that 
the writings of Voltaire and others of his school pre- 
cipitated that nation into its unparalleled revolution. 
Mariners are accustomed to judge of the state of the 
elements by very small signs. The flight of the sea- 
bird over the mast, cleaving the air with its rapid 
wing, is regarded as an admonition to prejDare for the 
gathering storm ; and Avhen this solitary messenger, 
hurrying before the fury of the temj)est, is driven far 
upon land, the sailor's wife utters a prayer for his 
protection, for she knows that the hoiu" of his danger 
is at hand. Let us apply the same philosophy, for 
it is a wise one, to the affairs of our countr}^ Ap- 
peals are daily made to the worst passions of the 
people, and men, for selfish purj^oses, attempt to cre- 
ate artificial and dangerous distinctions in society, 
and to array one class against another class. A want 
of respect for the laws is constantly manifested, and 
that deep veneration for our institutions which once 
characterized us as a people is rapidly passing away; 
that uncalculating attachment to the country and all 
that belongs to it, which may well be styled "the 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEJr. 11 

cheap defense of nations," is losing its power. While 
I speak, sir, the Capitol of one of the states of this 
Union is held by an armed mob, the representatives 
of the people have been expelled from their seats, and 
the governor has been compelled to order out the 
military force of the state to restore order. These 
are indications of an unsound state of the public 
mind ; they are the small signs which precede the 
coming storm. Those who are engaged in the work 
of disturbing the order of society should remember 
that they may call up spirits which will not go down 
at their bidding. Neptune may be roused to shake 
the sea and land, but it may not be easy to prevail 
on him to wave his trident, and restore tranquillity 
and sunshine. 1 am satisfied that a perseverance in 
these disorganizing efforts Avill, in time, involve us in 
the utmost confusion and anarchy. Standing, then, 
where I do, the representative of a free and intelli- 
gent j^eople, honored with tlieir confidence, and anx- 
ious to discharge faithfully the trust reposed in me, 
I feel it to be my duty to ineet every question of puli- 
lic interest with a full and candid expression of my 
views. Tlie scheme which the resolutions under con- 
sideration propose to sustain is one of those which 
contemplates fundamental and serious changes in our 
political affairs. I shall endeavor to bestow upon it 
that calm and fair consideration which its importance 
deserves. All great questions ought to be examined 
with candor ; mere party considerations should sink ; 
and we should search for truth under the guidance 
of a broad and enlightened patriotism. Discussions 
conducted in this spirit are not idle exhibitions ; they 



12 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

are contests in which error is beaten down. The 
halls of deliberative assemblies are battle-fields upon 
which the rio-hts of mankind have been vindicated 

o 

and set up, and the stormy debates with which they 
resound have shaken thrones and made kings turn 
pale with fear. We have been charged with a dis- 
position to avoid this contest. I, sir, disclaim any 
such inclination. I may be so unfortunate as to err 
in opinion ; I may find myself unsupported here, but 
I shall not avoid discussion. I claim no forbearance, 
I ask no quarter. I have always admired the con- 
duct of Camillus, when, upon his return to Home, he 
found his countiymen counting out gold to their en- 
emies as the price of their liberty: he interrupted the 
higlorious negotiation, and, striking his hand upon 
his sword, said "that the liberty of his country must 
be bought with steel, and not with gold." Sir, the 
principles which I hold, in common with other gen- 
tlemen upon this floor, can live in the midst of bat- 
tle ; they will survive it ; they Avill come out of it 
strengthened by the conflict. 

As to the spirit Avith which I enter into this de- 
bate, I am sure that I claim nothing more than what 
is due me when I say that I seek only to know what 
system is best for my country. 

When I become satisfied that I have found it, I 
shall, without any ostentatious display of patriotism, 
give it my hearty support, without stopping to in- 
quire as to its paternity. Indeed, as to the plan pro- 
posed by the President of the United States, and so 
warmly commended by the gentleman from Madison, 
it would be no light task to undertake to ascertain its 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 13 

paternity. It is said that seven cities contended for 
the honor of having given birth to Homer : 

" Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Argos, Athenae, 
Orbis dc patria certat, Homer tua." 

I think there are as many aspirants to the equivocal 
lionor of having given birth to the sub-treasury 
scheme — or, if gentlemen will pardon me, I will say 
the constitutional independent treasury scheme. That, 
I believe, from the latest advices, is the approved 
name which its friends have bestowed upon it. 

I am aware that it is most industriously attempted 
to appropriate to Mr. Calhoun the honor of having 
originated it ; there must, however, rest upon the 
minds of his friends some painful doubts. 

In looking over a small work, written by Mr. Gal- 
latin in 1830, upon banks and currency, I find the 
following paragraph : 

' ' It must, at the same time, be acknowledged, that 
inasmuch as the revenue may be collected, and the 
public moneys may be kept in public chests, and 
transferred to distant places without the assistance of 
banks, and as all this was once done in tlie United 
States, and continues to be done in several countries, 
without any public bank, it can not be asserted that 
those institutions are absolutely necessary for those 
purposes, if we take the word ' necessary' in that 
strict sense which has been alluded to. All this may 
be done, though with a gi'eater risk, and in a more 
inconvenient and expensive manner. Public chests 
might be established, and public receivers, or sub- 
treasurers, might be appointed in the same places 
where there are now offices of the Bank of the United 



14 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

States, and specie might be transported from place to 
place, as the public service required it, or inland bills 
of exchange pm'chased from individuals." 

Here is a sketch of the plan, 

Mr. Calhoun was too warm a friend to the Bank 
of the United States to employ his powers in origina- 
ting any system which should render the government 
inde2:»endent of it ; and a plan so wild as this — so un- 
suitcd to the habits and interests of our people — could 
have found no favor in his eyes so long as there re- 
mained the least hope of sustaining that splendid in- 
stitution. It is idle to search his speeches — to call 
up any thing which fell from his lips, with the hope 
of discovering some evidence which may persuade the 
world that he favored this system at an early period. 
The sensation caused by the intelligence that he had 
signified his approbation of it when proposed as an 
executive measure, sufficiently contradicts it. Gen- 
eral Gordon is supposed by some to be the author of 
the scheme. He certainly introduced it to the atten- 
tion of Congress, not with any hope of its adoption, 
but as a test of the strength of the deposit system. 
It is worthy of remark, that the measure Avas voted 
down by the friends of Mr. Van Buren, the very gen- 
tlemen who now hold it forth to the country as the 
wisest and purest scheme which has ever been exhib- 
ited, and denounce with fierce zeal all who are un- 
able to perceive its beauties or comprehend its merits. 
The plan is said to have been presented to General 
Gordon by Condy Kaguet, who comes in for his share 
of the honor of its production. He finds a competi- 
tor in the late President of the United States, who 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 15 

presented the scheme to the world in a letter to the 
" Globe." But I believe that public opinion inclines 
to lay the system at the feet of Mr. Benton as his 
own fairly-begotten ofFsj)ring ; and, sir, I agree fully 
with some one who declares that if the project pos- 
sesses half the excellence claimed for it by its friends 
— if it is so replete with blessings to the American 
people, then its author, Thomas Hart Benton, de- 
serves from their hands a statue of gold. But the 
gentleman from Madison assigns to it a much earlier 
birth ; he believes that the framers of the Constitu- 
tion contemplated it. 

I shall not, sir, attempt to settle these conflicting 
claims. No matter where the scheme originated, it 
seems to me to come in a most questionable shajDC. 
From my political relations to Mr. Van Buren, I cer- 
tainly was not prepared to look upon any proposition 
made by him with very partial eyes, but I trust that 
I Avas able to survey his measures with some fairness 
and candor. When I first read the message of the 
President of the United States, proposing to Con- 
gress the adoption of the sub-treasury scheme, I was 
in a small village distant from my political friends. 
Uninfluenced by the uttered sentiment of a human 
being, I calmly examined it, and pronounced it at 
once to be a system that looked to the establishment 
of a colossal despotism. I have reviewed it since — 
I have bestowed upon it much reflection ; but the first 
impression has deepened; my sentiments respecting 
it are unchanged. 

I am not insensible, sir, to the disadvantages to 
Avhich I am subjected by this opinion. I am aware 



16 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

that it leaves me still in a minority. Let it be so. 
I have too long acted with a minority to experience 
any uneasiness in my position. I shall remain there 
until the ever-shifting tide of human affairs sweeps 
numbers to my side. I should be unworthy to sit 
here as the representative of an enlightened and mag- 
nanimous people if I could permit myself to be moved 
by any array of hostile numbers, or seduced by the 
hojDe of acquiring honors. 

I see that the strictest party training is going on. 
I know that a proscriptive sj^irit is rising. Every 
appeal that can be made to human motives is urged, 
and names, suj)posed to be of bad odor, are freely be- 
stowed upon those who have the firmness to oppose 
the administration. Sir, names can never affect j^rin- 
ciples or change positions. Ingenuity may coin them, 
and effrontery apply them, but the actual relations 
of life remain the same. I am what I have ever 
been. In very early life I imbibed a deep attach- 
ment for free principles, from the very nature of my 
studies. It is impossible for any one to read the 
history of the contests for popular liberty which have 
shaken the world — to see the great standard some- 
times rising, and again sinking under the blows of 
power — without becoming deeply devoted to the cause 
of mankind. The feeling thus inspired has grown 
with my growth, and strengthened with my strength. 
My views of the political questions Avhich concern 
our own country alone were formed in a state which 
is renowned for its attachment to the great principles 
of liberty, and whose people possess, in a degree un- 
surpassed in ancient or modern times, all those lofty 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 17 

qualities which ennoble man. I mean, sir, the State 
of South Carolina. 

It is not a little singular that the first speech to 
which I ever listened in defense of the State Rights 
doctrine was made by the distinguished gentleman 
from Madison. He was at that time a member of 
the South Carolina Legislature. His fame was ripe ; 
his name was a tower of strength ; and he fully sus- 
tained his reputation by a powerful exhibition of those 
peculiar political principles for the defense of which 
that patriotic state has since become so distinguish- 
ed. I was a boy, leaning from the gallery, and listen- 
ing with eager ear to the debate. The impression 
then made on me has never passed away. The gen- 
tleman alluded to was sustained on that occasion by 
a young and ardent man, rich in gifts and in prom- 
ise, the morning of whose fame was darkened by sud- 
den and eternal gloom. I speak of Mr. Nixon. I 
shall be indulged while I pay a tribute to his mem- 
ory. Young and highly talented — surrounded by de- 
voted friends, who predicted for him a glorious career 
— he had but started, when he was called out to that 
field which has so often proved fatal to genius and 
worth. He fell in a duel at Augusta. Like the 
young Greek in a chariot-race, who falls by the hand 
of an enemy when springing from the starting-point, 
so fell Nixon. 

Well, sir, from that hour to this I have entertain- 
ed for the distinguished gentleman who now occupies 
a seat on this floor the profoundest respect. I feel 
the most unaffected regret in being compelled to dif- 
fer with him now. He is in the camp of our ene- 

B 



18 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

inies, but I can not forget his past services. He will 
pardon me for comparing him with Coriolanus. It 
is well known that this distinguished Roman general, 
after he had rendered the most important services to 
his country, and acquired the amplest honors, left his 
native city, took up his residence among its ancient 
enemies the Volsci, and even led them armed against 
it. Indeed, he would have leveled its walls, and have 
thrown open its palaces to be plundered by the hos- 
tile hosts at whose head he marched, had not a moth- 
er and a wife come forth, and moved his stern pur- 
pose by their tears. We can make no such appeal to 
the gentleman who now marches at the head of our 
enemies against a citadel filled with his ancient friends 
and allies. We can only point him to that time-hon- 
ored banner which floats over us, in defense of which 
I have seen his sword flash in the thickest and hot- 
test of the fight, while engaged with us in repelling 
the Volsci, whom he now leads. 

I hold, sir, to-day, the same political principles 
which I held then, and I can not be affected by any 
party name which may be aj)plied to those principles, 
nor can I be seduced, into the support of the measure 
under consideration because it professes to be Repub- 
lican. Epithets should be applied with great cau- 
tion. Gentlemen quite as ardent in supj^ort of pe- 
culiar measures as the friends of this question noAv 
are, and possessing quite as much political informa- 
tion, have been known to abandon their theories 
and change their opinions. In looking over some of 
the state papers connected with the events of 1810, 
I find an able argument in favor of a National 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 19 

Bank presented to Congress in the shape of a pe- 
tition. 

By whom, sir, would you suppose that this petition 
was -written ? Who enjoyed the honor of phxcing his 
name to it as the first signer? Condy Raguet. Will 
it be credited? I find, too, at a later period, Mr. 
Calhoun, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. King, our present senator 
in Congress, and other distinguished gentlemen class- 
ed with the Kepublican school, voting for the re-char- 
ter of that institution which has since become the 
subject of such deep and loud denunciation. This is 
surely enough to check the impetuous zeal of gentle- 
men. It is a strong admonition to forbear. Sir, I 
deplore the intolerant spirit Avhich I every day see 
manifested. Intolerance is hostile to every thing good 
and great ; it is utterly inconsistent Avith the spirit 
of freedom. As an Irish orator said of bisjotrv, "She 
has no head, and can not think ; she has no heart, and 
can not feel." The great business of intolerance is to 
accomplish party purposes at any sacrifice. 

I heard the argument of the gentleman from Mad- 
ison with pleasure. I am always pleased to listen to 
the history of my country^ whether the story relates 
to her battles or her politics, and the gentleman has 
glanced at both. It will not be expected that I should 
attempt a regular reply, as the argument, though dif- 
fuse, consisting sometimes of narrative and sometimes 
of panegyric, sometimes unfolding the secrets of early 
cabinets, and sometimes recounting the deeds done 
upon the battle-field by the soldier, or upon the sea 
by the sailor, was aimed chiefly at a National Bank. 
Upon that subject I have but little to say. 



20 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTKM. 

The lii'st resolution ])resoiit('<l 1)\^ tlie gt'iitlciiuin 
proposes to instruct our sen:itors and recpiest our 
representatives in Congress to vote; ngaiust tlie I'e- 
charter oftlu> ITnited States Bank, or any similar in- 
stitution. 

The responsibility ol" the j-epresentative to his con- 
stituents has been recognized in every repiihli can gov- 
ernment. It groAVS out ol'l'heii- relations, and must 
ever exist. Yet it is to be feared that the rights and 
duties which belong to the connection are often mis- 
understood or abused — that the rej)resenta,tiv(^ be- 
comes insensible to the infhiencc of lofty and nobler 
considerations, and sacrilices his deliberatxi judgment 
to the servile fear of giving ollense. This subject is 
strongly presented by Ednnnid Burke, whose great, 
enlightened, and philoso])hical mind com])rehended 
every subject Avhich it surve}'e(l, wliile Jiis resplend- 
ent and varied eloquence illustrated and adorned it. 
In his address to the electors of Bristol, he saj'S, "It 
is the duty of the representative to sacriiice his re- 
pose, his pleasures, his satisfactions to his constitu- 
ents. But his unbiased opinion, his mature judg- 
ment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sac- 
rifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. 
They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of 
which he is deeply answerable. Your representative 
owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment, 
and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifice 
it to your opinion." 

He adds again, " If government were a mere mat- 
ter of will upon any side, yours, without question, 
ought to be superior. But government and legisla- 



TITK KUH-TRKASURy SYSTEM. 21 

tion iii-(j matters of niasoii and judgiiiCiiit, not ol'in- 
clijiatifjii. And what soi't ofj-cason is that in wliich 
the detej-niination prewides the discussion ; in which 
one set of men deliheratci and another decider; and 
wlicn those wlio Coi-ni ihc (;onclusi(jn •avc j^erhaps 
three hundred Jtiiles distant fi-oni those wlio hear tlie 



ar<jrinnc,n 



tsr 



Tliese are just and nohh; views, an<l it will at once 
occur to you what is tli(; true j-elation of the i-epre- 
sentative to liis constituents. He is hound l>y th<; 
highest moral oljligations to resj>ect their wishes anxi 
to obey tlieir will when their sober and matured ju(Jg- 
ment has })een ascertaincMl. 

Jt is, tlien, ujjon this :ickjiowl(;dged responsibilit.y 
of the representative that tlu; doctrine; oi' instructio'n 
rests, and we are called upon now to exercise this 
right. 

Sir, I will not question the riy/d of the Legislature 
to instruct their senators in the Congress of the 
United States. It is the Vij'ginia (Joc^trinc;, and has 
received the sanction of tlie great ljo<Jy of the lia- 
publican })ai'ty, though never recogni/(;d, I think, in 
South Cai-olina. It, must, however, oc(;ui- to any one 
who has Ijestowed attention on the subject, that the 
coruiection between the rejjresentative and constitu(;nt 
is, in this instance, a peculiar one;, and nmst hit con- 
trolled })y considerations which do not ap[>ly to that 
relation generally. It is a right Avhich the Legisla- 
ture should rarely exercise, and the occasion which 
demands it ought to be extraordinary. I doul^t if 
such occasions occur once in twenty years. The Sen- 
ate of the Uiiited StaUiS is organiz(id upon a plan 



22 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

calculated to give it stability and independence. That 
body, it was supposed, would be composed of men 
possessing intellectual and moral qualities of the high- 
est order ; and it was the aim of the Constitution to 
insure in that branch of the government a fixed and 
steady policy, to protect the exercise of an enlighten- 
ed and independent judgment, and to encourage the 
influence of lofty and expanded considerations. One 
third of that body is chosen every second year, so that 
much the larger portion consists of those who are 
familiar with its business, and interested in its pol- 
icy. It will be remembered, too, that while repre- 
sentatives are chosen for only two years, senators are 
elected for six. Sir, there must have been some de- 
sign in this. The one body is intended to act as a 
check upon the other. In the representative branch 
of the national Legislature, every popular feeling, 
opinion, and even prejudice is expected to be felt and 
exhibited ; coming from the great body of the peo- 
ple, directly responsible to them, and holding office 
for so brief a season, they are supposed to feel sensi- 
tively, and to reflect most faithfully, every fluctuation 
in public sentiment. But the waves of popular com- 
motion, which will sometimes, in the purest republics, 
and among the most generous people, rise too sudden- 
ly and mount too high, are expected to dash and 
break at the feet of a calm and unmoved Senate. I 
am supported in this opinion by the highest author- 
ity. I have before me the "Federalist" — universally 
acknowledged to be an able and faithful commentary 
on the Constitution. It is well known that its de- 
sign was to exhibit the true meaning of the several 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 23 

provisions of the Constitution, and to urge its claims 
upon the people, while the question of its adoption 
was pending. Of its authors it is necessary to say 
nothing ; it is enough to name them — Mr. Jay, Mr, 
Hamilton, and Mr, Madison, I will take the liberty 
of readino; to the House a few words in relation to 
this particular subject : 

"• The necessity of a Senate is not less indicated by 
the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies 
to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent pas- 
sions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into in- 
temperate and pernicious resolutions. Examples on 
this subject might be cited without number, and from 
proceedings within the United States as well as from 
the history of other nations. But a jDOsition that 
will not be contradicted need not be proved. All 
that need be remarked is, that a body which is to 
correct this infirmity ought itself to be free from it, 
and consequently ought to be less numerous. It 
ought, moreover, to possess great firmness, and con- 
sequently ought to hold its authority by a tenure of 
considerable duration. 

"The mutability in the public councils, arising 
from a rapid succession of new members, however 
qualified they may be, points out, in the strongest 
manner, the necessity of some stable institution in 
the government. Every new election in the states 
is found to change one half of the representatives. 
From the change of men must proceed a change of 
opinions, and from a change of opinions a change 
of measures. But a continual change even of good 
measures is inconsistent with every rule of prudence 



24 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

and every prospect of success. The remark is veri- 
fied in private life, and becomes more just, as well as 
more important, in national transactions." 

But, sir, this view is presented still more strongly 
in a succeeding number : 

"Thus far I have considered the circumstances 
which 23oint out the necessity of a well-constructed 
Senate only as they relate to the representatives of 
the people. To a people as little blinded by preju- 
dice or corrupted by flattery as those whom I address, 
I shall not scruple to add that such an institution 
may be sometimes necessary as a defense to the peo- 
ple against their own temporary errors and delusions. 
As the cool and deliberate sense of the community 
ought in all governments, and actually will in all free 
governments, ultimately to prevail over the views 
bf its rulers, so there are particular moments in pub- 
lic affairs when the people, stimulated by some irreg- 
ular passion or some illicit advantage, or misled by 
the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may 
call for measures which they themselves will be most 
ready to lament and condemn. In these critical mo- 
ments, how salutary will be the interference of some 
temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order 
to check the misguided career, and to suspend the 
blow meditated by the people against themselves, un- 
til reason, justice, and truth can regain their author- 
ity over the public mind ! What bitter anguish would 
not the people of Athens have often avoided if their 
government had contained so provident a safeguard 
against the tyi^anny of their own passions? Popular 
liberty might then have escaj^ed the indelible reproach 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 25 

of decreeing to the same citizens the hemlock on one 
day, and statues on the next." 

Surely, sir, no one can doubt that the great object 
sought in organizing the Senate was to render it sta- 
ble and independent. It was expected that the im- 
mediate representatives of the people would yield to 
any commotion, but it was intended that senators 
should stand firm until the storm had passed away, 
and the heavens were clear, and the form of Truth 
visible to all eyes. But, sir, if you instruct your 
senators in every instance, upon every occasion, small 
and great, you had better at once repeal that provi- 
sion of the Constitution which secures to them their 
seats for six years, and make them really dependent 
on and submissive to you by electing them but for 
two. You change the form of our government, by 
destroying that very stability and independence which 
it was intended should be found in the Senate, if on 
all matters you legislate for your senators, forward 
to them peremptory instructions, and force them to 
obey your wishes or resign. 

I hope that I shall not be misunderstood in my 
views of this subject. I do not deny the right to in- 
struct ; I am only throwing about it the guards and 
checks which ought to surround it. I shall never 
consent. to instruct a senator in Congress unless the 
occasion be one of extraordinary danger and import- 
ance. I solemnly protest against the abuse of this 
right ; I solemnly protest against the practice of 
bringing every pm'ty question to bear upon the de- 
liberations of the United States Senate. Sir, lias 
the mature sense of the people of Alabama, in rela- 



26 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

tion to the measure now under consideration, been 
ascertained ? Has it in any way been made known ? 
No, sir. And how will a magnanimous people re- 
gard us, if we show ourselves so eager to "bend the 
suj)ple hinges of the knee" as to anticipate their ac- 
tion, and pledge them to the support of a measure 
which they have never yet sanctioned, and which I 
trust they never will sanction ? Gentlemen mistake 
the people of this country if they hope to excite their 
admiration or secure their confidence by displaying 
such inglorious zeal in approving every scheme pro- 
posed by those in power. I am not prepared to 
make known the sentiments of the people of our state 
upon this subject. The great body of them have nev- 
er entertained it ; and if, in some parts of the coun- 
try, the measure has found favor, public opinion there 
can be revolutionized by bringing the system upon 
the open field of free and bold discussion. I shall 
not, sir, approach the Senate of the United States 
with the small clamor of a few party leaders, and en- 
deavor to persuade that body that it is the voice of a 
state which they hear. No, sir; first let the state 
speak. Is there the slightest danger that our sena- 
tors Avill vote for a re-charter of the United States 
Bank? There is no such proposition before Con- 
gress, and it is well known that body will presently 
adjourn. Where, then, is the necessity for any in- 
struction on the subject? Why must these resolu- 
tions be pressed through with such hot haste, and for- 
warded to Washington City ? Because gentlemen en- 
tertain the apprehension that our senators, whose 
sentiments are well known, and whose partisan fidel- 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 27 

ity no one doubts, may be seduced into the support 
of a proposition, not yet made, to re-cliarter a Bank 
of the United States. And are we called on, for this, 
to exercise the solemn right of instruction ? No, sir ; 
there is another object. This hue and cry about a 
National Bank is intended for effect. It is the beat 
of the reveille, rousing partisans from their slumbers 
when no enemy is in the field. It is the standard 
dipped in blood and flame, that it may dart through 
the country and assemble the clansmen — that it may 
call up the faithful from the mountain fastnesses of 
the North — from the level plains of the South, and 
from the broad but distant sea-board. A party gath- 
ering; is desired ; o;entlemen who do not like the sub- 
treasury scheme are to be prevented from scrutinizing 
its odious features by the cry, which is ever thunder- 
ed in their ears, of "a National Bank!" 

I do not believe that any plan is on foot to estab- 
lish a National Bank ; the country is not asking for 
it, and the subject would sleep if it were not for the 
rising zeal of those Avho profess still to dread its pow- 
er, and who seem to regard it as a monster over which 
a spell has been thrown by an incantation, through 
whose force it may yet break, and rouse itself like a 
giant refreshed with wine. These are the men who 
keep the question alive, and who find it very effect- 
ive in their system of party training. 

I heard with pleasure the eloquent tribute paid by 
the gentleman from Madison to General Jackson as 
a soldier. He certainly deserves great praise ; and 
whether we contemplate him pursuing the Indians 
through the wilderness, driving them to the cover of 



28 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

their gloomy swamps, braving the deadly rifle and 
the glittering tomahawk, or planting himself in front 
of a numerous, civilized, and disciplined army, accus- 
tomed to war, and fresh from lately-won fields, he ex- 
cites our admiration and our gratitude. Let him be 
crowned with the honors which he has earned. Tran- 
quil may his old age be ! 

But I do believe that he Avas led into very errone- 
ous and dangerous views of the relations of the states 
to each other, and to the general government. 

I confess myself, too, unable to comprehend the 
precise connection between General Jackson's mili- 
tary services and the question of a re-charter of the 
United States Bank. The gentleman from Madison 
has interwoven them, and has painted at one moment 
his favorite hero encamped in the woods, subsisting 
on acorns and parched corn, and, at another, has 
sketched the dangers Avhich belong to that institution 
Avhich still disturbs his repose, and j^resents visions 
to his fancy as startling and appalling as those which 
shook Lochiel upon the eve of battle. He will par- 
don me if I do not feel the force of his reasoning. 

Other distinguished gentlemen, Avho have fallen in- 
with the present scheme of the administration, were 
once friendly to a National Bank. I do not doubt 
but that with many the change of opinion has been 
very sincere. 

I have already alluded to Mr. Calhoun's well-known 
sentiments, and the name of one of our present sena- 
tors in the Congress of the United States, a gentle- 
man of great worth, might be added. 

A gentleman now high in office in this state, when 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 29 

but a £ew years since a member of this House, was 
not satisfied with voting against a resolution con- 
demning the United States Bank, but spread his pro- 
test on the journal, and recorded his opinion in favor 
of the absolute necessity for such an institution. 

But, sir, the aspect of this question has wholly 
changed, and the condition of the country is Avidely 
different from what it was a few years since. Then 
the bank was in successful operation, and was regard- 
ed by many most able and distinguished men as ab- 
solutely essential to the country. So thought Mr. 
M 'Duffie, a sound constitutional lawyer, and a states- 
man of extraordinary ability. A committee, of which 
he Avas a member, visited Philadelphia in 1832, clothed 
with full power to examine into the state of the bank. 
Mr. M'Duffie and some others, dissenting from the 
report of the majority of the committee, submitted a 
counter report urging its re-charter. 

The popularity of the bank, and the sense of its 
importance, was even increased by the removal of the 
deposits and the events which succeeded. 

But, sir, the aspect of the question is now changed, 
as I before remarked. The country is rapidly accom- 
modating itself to its circumstances. There has been 
a vast concentration of capital in New York. In 
Philadelphia, the Bank of the United States is oper- 
ating extensively. Mr. Biddle himself would no 
doubt resist the attempt to create a National Bank. 
Let us now make suitable arrangements for an ample 
and sound circulation in the South, and the country 
is independent of such an institution. 

The gentleman from Madison remarked severely on 



30 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

Mr. Biddle's entering the cotton-market. This is the 
very hist objection which I shoukl make to him. It 
increases the demand for our staple commodity, and 
he can control it but in one way — by bidding more 
for it than any other purchaser. I am sorry to learn 
that his operations in this way are to be less extens- 
ive in futm^e. 

But, sir, I will dwell no longer on the Bank of the 
United States. The instructions proposed to be giv- 
en to our senators respecting it are uncalled for ; it 
is a mere party maneuver, gotten up for selfish pur- 
poses, and I shall not in any way lend it my aid. 

We are called on too, sir, to support that system 
Avhich proposes to collect the public dues in gold and 
silver. I can not aid in fixing such a system upon 
the j)eople of the United States. I have already ex- 
pressed my deliberate opinion upon the subject in the 
resolutions which I had the honor to propose for the 
adoption of the Legislatiu*e, one of which declares 
that Congi'ess ought to pass no law prohibiting the 
reception of the notes of specie-paying banks in dis- 
charge of the public dues. 

There is no necessary connection between specie 
and property. The precious metals Avere very early 
selected to represent things really valuable, because 
of their scarcity, their durability, their uniformity of 
value, and other qualities which render them a con- 
venient agent in commercial transactions. But, sir, 
will it be denied that, when society advances, when 
the wants of men become more numerous, and their 
transactions more complex, they are at liberty to sub- 
stitute some more convenient representative of prop- 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 31 

erty f Surely not. It would be most absurd to at- 
tempt to restrict them to the use of the precious met- 
als. I beg leave to borrow the opinion of a distin- 
guished gentleman in South Carolina — Mr. Petigru. 
In a speech of great force which he delivered upon this 
subject in the Legislature of that state, he remarked: 

"When we speak of a measure or standard, we re- 
fer to fixed and definite proportions, which are equal- 
ly certain and unchangeable ; but Avhen we speak of 
the precious metals as a measure or standard of val- 
ue, we use the terms in a vague sense, as expressive 
of the use of the precious metals, but not of any qual- 
ity that is inherent in them." 

This is a doctrine perfectly well understood by ev- 
ery commercial nation on the globe, and, sir, it is a 
most useless enterprise to undertake to p)ersuade the 
people of this country to abandon it. 

Nor, sir, will you be more successful in persuading 
them that the framers of the Constitution of the 
United States intended to prohibit the employment 
of some other than a metallic circulation. They 
were too enlarged in their views, too com^Drehensive 
in their mode of thinking, to attempt to fasten a sj)e- 
"'cie currency upon this country. I am unable to con- 
ceive how gentlemen reach the conclusion that the 
reception of bank bills in discharge of public dues 
"is a plain and palpable violation of the Constitu- 
tion." It was not intended that any thing but gold 
and silver should be made a legal tender in pajaxient 
of debts. The power is expressly denied to the 
States, and the general government has no control 
over individual contracts. But it is any thing else 



32 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

than a strict construction of the Constitution to in- 
fer from this that it intended to forbid the use of all 
money except that supplied by the precious metals. 
If it had intended this, it was very easy so to have 
declared it in express terms. 

The Constitution has provided a standard of value, 
to remain unchanged, and to which every other rep- 
resentative of property may be reduced at the pleas- 
ure of the creditor. But it has gone no farther ; it 
leaves the government and individuals at liberty to 
employ any circulation which their wants may de- 
mand, and to receive whatever they may choose to 
select in discharge of claims which they hold. 

It is most strange that at this day a diiferent con- 
struction should be put on the Constitution, and that 
an effort should be made to break down the banking 
system. Let us recur to Mr. Calhoun's views of the 
powers of Congress over the currency in 1816. 

In his sj)eech on the Bank Bill at that time before 
Congress, he says, "The only object the framers of 
the Constitution could have had in view in giving to 
Congress the power to coin money, regulate the value 
thereof, and of foreign coin, must have been to give 
a steadiness and fixed value to the currency of the 
United States." He is said by a distinguished states- 
man to have insisted that the state of things existing 
at the time of the adoption of the Constitution af- 
forded an argument in support of his construction. 
Mr. C. remarked farther: "For gold and silver coin 
are not the only money, but whatever is the medium 
of purchase and sale ; in Avhich bank-paper alone was 
how employed." 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 33 

Sir, this is undeniably true at this time ; and, if 
so, what apology can the government offer to the peo- 
ple for rejecting bank paper ? If it be money for the 
people — if the circumstances of the country have call- 
ed it into being, and have given to it its present cir- 
culation, by what reason can it be shown that the 
servants of the people ought not to receive it ? Con- 
gi*ess, most certainly, ought not to pass any law pro- 
hibiting the reception of paper convertible into spe- 
cie, in payment of dues to the government. Such a 
measure would neither be in harmony with the spir- 
it of our institutions, nor friendly to the interests of 
our people. It would resemble more the edicts of the 
tyrant, who invented means for making the people 
feel the iron pressure of his power, and who sought, 
by destroying their prosperity, to break their spirit. 
Where is the necessity for such a measure? From 
whom do you demand gold and silver? From the 
People. To pay whom ? Officers — the very serv- 
ants of the people. But, sir, the servitude is in the 
name only ; in all else they are princely. In the or- 
dinary intercourse between man and man, paper will 
answer as a medium of exchange ; but when a sleek 
and salaried officer is to be paid, the man who earns 
his daily bread by the sweat of his brow and the la- 
bor of his hands must search for glittering coin, and 
must buy it, whatever inconvenience or expense it 
may cost to obtain it. Sir, a plain man, engaged in 
his daily avocations, and called on for a tribute of 
this kind by a courtly government collector, Avould be 
affected by it very much as Hotspur was by the de- 
mand for his prisoners. 

C 



34 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

Sir, this scheme will never do ; it is unsuited to 
the latitude of the United States. I solemnly pro- 
test against the measure in the name of the people. 
I protest against it in the name of those whose in- 
terests gentlemen profess such an anxiety to guard. 
I shall to the last resist a measure which proposes to 
fasten upon them an odious and heavy tax, and to 
bind upon their necks a yoke not the less galling be- 
cause it is made of gold or of silver, and not of iron. 
But it is contended that, by creating a strong demand 
for the precious metals, and excluding j^aper, the coun- 
try will enjoy an abundant supply of gold and silver. 
This view is urged upon us by those who regard the 
absence of a large supply of gold and silver coin as a 
great evil, but the opinion is a mistaken one. Mr. Gal- 
latin's opinion on this subject is entitled to weight, 
and he says, " With the greatest abundance of provis- 
ions, it is impossible for a new country to purchase 
what it does not produce unless it has a market for 
its own products. Specie is a foreign product, and, 
though one of the most necessary, is not yet always 
that which is most imperatively required. We may 
aver from our own knowledge that the western coun- 
ties of Pennsylvania had not, during more than twenty 
years after their first settlement, the specie necessary 
for their own internal trade and usual transactions." 

It by no means follows that the banishment of 
bank paper will insure the presence of gold and sil- 
ver. You may, like the western counties of Penn- 
sylvania, have neither paper nor coin. Sound bank 
paper will not expel coin. 

But, sir, if we should admit all that the advocates 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 35 

of a hard-money currency contend for — if, by dishon- 
oring bank paj)er, the quantity of gold and silver in 
the country would be increased, this would not pro- 
duce a corresponding increase in its Avealth. The 
country might be flooded with the precious metals, 
and yet be poor. They are unproductive in them- 
selves; they are not Avealth, but only a means of 
wealth. 

This opinion corresponds with those long before 
expressed by Dr. Franklin. 

It is a gross though common error to mistake the 
signs of wealth for wealth itself Indeed, the great 
objection to the measures of the present administra- 
tion is, that they are too narrow in their scope ; they 
leave out of view the great moral causes which ought 
to rank first in a country's resources; it has begun a 
retrograde march in civilization, and is striving to 
introduce into this young, wide, and rapidly-growing 
nation systems long since rejected by every people 
who have grown great and important. It is devis- 
ing means to curb the spirit of enterprise in the 
American people, and to reduce us to the cold and 
barren condition of semi-barbarian nations. Com- 
pare France with Great Britain. France is said to 
possess about four hundred millions of dollars of spe- 
cie. Now, sir, travel through France : you may ad- 
mire her vine-covered hills ; you may be pleased with 
the characteristic politeness of her people ; but what 
great works meet your eye? Where will you find a 
magnificent system of improvements to delight you, 
and to remind you of the century in which you live? 
You shall find nothing of all this. But pass into 



36 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

Great Britain, and you seem to have strode into an- 
other century — you almost realize some of the dreams 
of Aladdin. Look at her shipping — look at her man- 
ufactories — look at the moral grandeur of the nation. 

There exists at this moment a strong demand for 
more bank j^aper in our own state. In support of 
this, I apj^eal to the gentleman from Marengo, who, 
though devoted to the administration, and a warm 
advocate of its schemes, a few days since introduced 
to this House a petition for the charter of a bank in 
his neighborhood, which has commenced its issues 
without, I think, a dollar of specie ; and so numer- 
ous were the petitioners, that, as the messenger bore 
it to your table, it hung like a mantle about him. 
The direct tendency of the sub-treasury scheme is to 
break down the banking system of this country. By 
rejecting bank paper, and by requiring all public dues 
to be paid in gold and silver, a strong and steady 
demand is created for coin. When it is once under- 
stood that specie will answer certain valuable pur- 
poses which bank paper will not, gold and silver will 
become an article of trade; they will be regularly 
bought and sold at their market value. 

The demand can be supplied only by pmxhasing 
the article from individuals who speculate in funds, 
or hy presenting bills at the counters of the banks 
which issued them, and demanding specie. 

It is idle to hope that the banking system can be 
sustained under the operation of such a measure ; its 
prostration would be inevitable. The government 
would maintain an attitude of direct hostility to the 
banks ; it would put dishonor upon their bills by re- 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 37 

jecting them ; and would, by its example, encourage 
individuals to pursue the same narrow, selfish, and 
destructive policy. 

Credit is sensitive; confidence is essential to it; 
and if it is withheld by the government, it can not 
exist. I do not deny that there may be evils con- 
nected with the banking system as it is at present 
conducted. It may be abused. If so, amend it ; take 
hold of it, and improve its structm-e, but do not con- 
sent to destroy it. Do not lend your aid to the sup- 
port of a scheme which, while it promises to deprive 
the banks of their power to do evil, at the same time 
robs them of their ability to do good. The gentleman 
from Madison has alluded to the soldiers and the 
sailors who fight our battles in connection with these 
institutions, and he paid an eloquent tribute to the 
American navy. No one, sir, feels a stronger regard 
for that class of our countrymen than I do. While 
Upon the land our army did nobly in the contest 
with a powerful nation, upon the sea our navy cov- 
ered itself with undying glory, and made our na- 
tional banner, while it floated above the smoke of 
battle, an object of terror to its enemies, and of hope 
and pride to its friends. I do not believe that a 
more active, daring, and enterprising set of men live 
than our sailors. At this hour they are spreading 
American canvas in the northern seas amid the ice- 
bergs ; among the luxuriant islands of the tropical 
region; upon the Pacific; upon the Mediterranean: 
they bear our produce to the ports of the most en- 
lightened and commercial nations on the globe, and, 
touching with their vessels the shores of a people who 



38 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

have hitherto rejected all intercourse with mankind, 
they draw them into a wider traffic, and tempt them 
into an exchange of commodities. Yet, sir, is it a 
fair objection to banks that this class of our people 
do not happen to hold stock in them? The reason- 
ing must be very peculiar Avhich conducts one to such 
a conclusion. I deplore the effort so steadily made 
to array one class against another. The pursuits of 
men are various ; they are wisely ordered so ; but 
this ought not to produce hostility and distrust. In 
this country the rich man is no enemy to the poor. 
He can not be. This is a relation which is perpet- 
ually changing. The laborer of this year becomes 
the moneyed man of the next. Under the benefi- 
cent credit system which this country enjoys, he is 
enabled to engage in any enterprise which seems to 
him the most promising. If he inclines to agricul- 
tural pursuits, he penetrates the wilderness; by the 
aid of friends he secures a small tract of land, erects 
his humble cabin, clears the forest about him, and 
presently gathers from the generous soil its rich prod- 
ucts; or, if he should prefer the busy occupation of 
trade, he engages in this, cautiously at first, but as 
his means increase he widens the sweep of his opera- 
tions, and enjoys an ample return for his skill and 
industry ; or it may be that he loves the sea ; if so, 
he takes his place among daring and hardy associates, 
and, braving cold and danger in the pursuit, he strikes 
the harpoon into the whale, and returns laden with 
the spoil. Who, sir, does not know that this is so- 
ber truth, and not a mere picture? Who desires to 
see this state of things changed? 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. ' 39 

Those very men who are represented as sustaining 
such serious injuiy from hank monopolies^ are aided 
in beginning their adventures by these institutions, 
and, after accumulating wealth, invest their profits 
in them. I hope, sir, that jealousies will never grow 
up between different classes in this country; they 
would be far more dangerous than those Avhich are 
founded in geographical relations. Yet it is gravely 
asserted that there ought not to be a geographical 
division of parties, but that the true and natural 
ground of party organization is to array the produc- 
ing class, as it is termed, against the wealthy class. 
Those who favor such a distinction have looked into 
the history of the world to but little pui'pose. If it 
-were introduced here, the contest between plebeians 
and patricians would be renewed ; contests which oft- 
en shook the power of the Roman empii^e, and threat- 
ened it with greater danger than any external force. 

The operation of the sub-treasury scheme would 
reduce the country to a very restricted circulation, 
and would cripple the enterj^rise of our people. The 
want of an ample circulation is acknowledged to be, 
in any country, a gi'eat evil, but in the United States 
it would be an evil of no common magnitude. It 
would at once check our advancement in the scale of 
national importance. I will read a single passage 
from a speech delivered in Congress by one of its 
ablest members, Mr. Legare, of South Carolina. He 
mentions the fact that within a 'comparatively brief 
period some of the most fertile and beautiful tracts 
of the Koman territory had been depopulated ; and 
he remarks : 



40 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

"Nor, sir, was tliis owing to the despotism of the 
Csesars, as an excellent writer has well observed in 
reference to this passage of the 'Decline and Fall,' 
and as this committee will do well to remark. There 
co-operated with that misgovernment a curse, which 
has been said, and is thus proved, to be worse than 
' the inclemency of the seasons and the barrenness of 
the earth,' a decreasing currency. The supply of the 
precious metals had been for upward of two centuries 
continually diminishing, while the quantity of them 
sent in quest of luxuries to the East, to retiu-n no 
more, had been increasing in the same proportion, 
and a revenue of 15 or £20,000,000 was constantly 
levied in gold and silver, to be expended at a distant 
capital or on the frontiers. 

"This important fact speaks volumes to us on this 
subject. It is unquestionably true that one of the 
greatest calamities of the declining empire was a cir- 
culation diminishing so frightfully, that the pay of a 
general in the third century was nominally no high- 
er than that of a private had been in the reign of 
Augustus. ' So much for the Roman sub-treasury 
system." 

Can it be doubted that the same result would fol- 
loAV the introduction of it here ? 

It is contended that the value of paper money is 
too unsettled and fluctuating ; and a specie circula- 
tion is desired, because of its stable and uniform val- 
ue. It can not be 'denied that uniformity of value 
is a very important quality in a medium of exchange, 
yet it is by no means the only one which we desire. 
It is impossible to select any representative of 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 41 

property which shall possess a perfectly uniform 
value. 

While we admit that the precious metals possess 
a more uniform value than any other currency, yet 
it can not be denied that bank paper, at all times 
convertible into gold and silver, is sufficiently stable 
for all the purposes of trade. Banks supply, too, a 
ckculation which possesses other very important qual- 
ities ; and among them, abundance. An abundant 
circulation is absolutely essential to the prosperity 
of this nation ; without it, the laboring classes toil in 
vain ; they never rise above the condition of theu' 
birth ; the son inherits poverty from his father, and 
in turn transmits it to his children. Public improve- 
ments can not advance; capitalists will not aid them; 
they employ their funds in more profitable and more 
selfish enterprises. The very tendency of a restricted 
circulation is to increase the means of the wealthy 
and to impoverish the needy. 

As to convenience, no one will hesitate to admit 
that bank paper possesses it in a much higher degi'ee 
than specie. We are a commercial people. Our coun- 
try is an extended one. We are accustomed to pass 
from one extremity to the other — to push our enters- 
prises, sometimes on the Western frontier, and again 
on the Southern coast. We need an expanded and 
convenient currency, which shall cost neither labor or 
expense in its transportation. Do not bring upon us 
the Spartan policy ; do not shape yom* legislation 
upon the model of the ancient lawgiver, Lycurgus. 
He sought to preserve the ^drtue of his people by re- 
straining them from commerce, and by forbidding 



42 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

tliem to travel. He accomplished his object by con- 
fining them to the use of iron money, and by distrib- 
uting property among them equally. "We are fast 
adopting the one scheme ; is there no danger that the 
other will be forced upon us? Indulge me in one 
more reference to Dr. Franklin : 

"Paj^er money, well funded, has another gi^eat ad- 
vantage over gold and silver: its lightness of car- 
riage, and the little room that is occupied by a great 
sum, whereby it is capable of being more easily and 
more safely, because more privately, conveyed from 
place to place. Gold and silver are not intrinsically 
of equal value with iron, a metal in itself capable of 
many more beneficial uses to mankind. Their value 
rests chiefly in the estimation they happen to be in 
among the generality of nations, and the credit given 
to the opinion that that estimation will continue, 
otherwise a pound of gold would not be a real equiv- 
alent even for a bushel of wheat. Any other well- 
founded credit is as much an equivalent as gold and 
silver, and in some cases more so, or it would not be 
preferred by commercial people in different countries. 
Not to mention again our own bank bills, Holland, 
which understands the value of cash as well as any 
people in the world, would never part with gold and 
silver for credit (as they do when they put it into 
their bank, from whence little of it is ever afterward 
drawn out), if they did not think and find the credit 
a full equivalent." 

Sir, such a currency as I have described our peo- 
ple will have. Look abroad at our growing trade. 
See our spreading commerce. Observe the activity 



THE SUB-TREASURY SV^STEM. 43 

whicli pervades every department of life, and say, sir, 
do you think that the specie system will suit this 
country? Are you prepared to invite the govern- 
ment to begin the work of fixing it upon us, by re- 
quiring all its dues to be paid in gold and silver ? I 
trust not. Nor can I consent that the public funds 
shall be intrusted to the keeping of executive depend- 
ents. The financial objections to the system are nu- 
merous. One of them is strongly stated by Mr. 
Cheves. He insists that it is a most unwise policy 
to collect the public dues in gold and silver, and then 
place the money in the hands of individual agents. 
You thus abstract it from circulation ; it lies in the 
vaults of sub-treasurers ; it answers no useful j^ur- 
pose in life ; and this mass of metal might as well, 
for the time, be returned to the mines from which it 
was dug. Nor is the plan a safe one. It exposes 
the public treasure to be plundered, and 2)resents 
strong temptation to an abuse of trust. Need I ar- 
gue the point ? I will not : convincing, astounding 
facts are at hand. Recently, two individuals having 
charge of the public funds have been ascertained to 
be defaulters to most extravagant amounts ; one, I 
think, for a million of dollars, and the other a still 
greater sum. It would be much safer to compel the 
collector to place the funds in some safe bank on spe- 
cial deposit. It may be asked in what the advantage 
would lie. In this, sir. The transaction would, to 
some extent, be known. Secresy is the protector of 
crime : pour in light, and it dies. The amount of 
money deposited in bank by the collector is known to 
the officers of the institution, and so is the amount 



44 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

removed by him, and even this danger of publicity 
acts as a check upon him. His conduct is subjected 
to scrutiny, and any thing extraordinary in it attracts 
notoriety. Can it be supposed that, under the oper- 
ation of such a system, Mr. S^vartwout could have 
practiced such an extravagant fraud upon the gov- 
ernment as it has lately suffered at his hands'? or 
that his friend, Mr. Price, could have been so success- 
ful in his peculations ? 

But, sir, there is a much more serious objection to 
this system than I have yet named. I mean the in- 
creased power which it confers on the President. 
The public funds ought to be placed beyond his con- 
trol ; they ought not to be in the hands of his crea- 
tures — of those of whom it may be literally said, 
"He saith to one, come, and he cometli ; and to an- 
other, go, and he goeth." The result would be the 
building up of a vast and overshadowing executive 
power, under whose crushing influence popular lib- 
erty would expire. 

The Constitution of the United States was framed 
by men profoundly acquainted with political philos- 
ophy. They intended to secure by that instrument 
as perfect a distribution of political power as could 
be attained, for they well knew that to concentrate 
them in the same hands would leave but little hope 
for the existence of popular liberty. The grand dis- 
tinction between the condition of a free people and 
of a nation ruled by a king wielding unlimited pow- 
er, is to be found in this: the one not only enjoys 
actual liberty, but they are protected in its enjoy- 
ment ; their rights are guarded by laAVs ; while the 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 45 

other, though they may be governed by a wise and 
lenient ruler, and may be indulged in the exercise of 
their rights to as great an extent as a people govern- 
ing themselves, yet they possess no security for their 
perpetuation : this is dependent on the caprice of one 
man. 

In the government of the United States, the exec- 
utive power is conferred on the President. It is his 
duty to see that the laws are faithfully observed ; and, 
to sustain the high and important functions which 
belong to his office, he commands the whole military 
force of the country. Other powers are assigned to 
Congress ; and among them, the control of the pub- 
lic funds — in itself a very high trust. They, the 
representatives of the people, are to guard the treas- 
ure of the nation with unrelaxing vigilance, and no 
appropriation can be made without their action. It 
Avill at once be seen how deeply this arrangement con- 
cerns popular liberty, and any measure which pro- 
poses to disturb this adjustment of powers is con- 
demned by the Constitution, and is hostile to the 
dearest 2:)ublic interests. 

It was remarked by the gentleman from Madison 
that it is made the duty of the President, by the Con- 
stitution, to appoint public officers, and that the Treas- 
ury Department was attached to the executive branch 
of the government. This is true, sir, but it was nev- 
er thus attached by the Constitution. The Presi- 
dent's control over that department is acquired by 
indirection. No such officer as Secretary of the Treas- 
ury is named in the Constitution ; but the general 
power of nominating to office is given to the Presi- 



46 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

dent, and by the existing construction of his author- 
ity, which allows him to re7nove from office those 
who have been appointed, he possesses an unlimited 
influence over an officer who, from the highest con- 
siderations, ought to be wholly inde^Dendent of him. 
Yet it is ]3roposed to extend this dangerous influence 
still further. Not content with making the head of 
the Treasury Department the mere creature of the 
President — an automaton to move as he shall direct 
— there are those who desire to see the whole treasure 
of the people placed in the hands of subordinate of- 
ficers — sub-treasurers, scattered throughout the coun- 
try, who owe their official existence to his will, and 
may be discharged at any moment by the oj^ening of 
his lips. Will the American people tolerate this 
alarmino; encroachment on their rii>;hts ? It must at 
once be seen that it disturbs the balance of power in 
the government, and confers on the President more 
than kingly authority. Let some great crisis arrive ; 
let a reckless and grasping leader sit in the presiden- 
tial chair ; let him desire to accomplish some favorite 
scheme, the success of which requires money ; if it be 
refused by Congress, what is to prevent his seizing 
the public funds ? The scruples or remonstrances of 
his dependents ? What answer did Caesar give when 
resisted by Metellus? He laid his hand upon his 
SWORD. Sir, the lesson is sufficiently instructive. I 
will add to my own views those of General Jackson, 
expressed to Congress in his message of 1835 : 

"I need only add to what I have on former occa- 
sions said on this subject generally, that in the regu- 
lations which Congress may prescribe respecting the 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 47 

custody of the public money, it is desirable that as 
little discretion as may be deemed consistent with 
their safe keeping should be given to the executive 
agents. No one can be more deeply impressed than 
I am with the soundness of the doctrine which re- 
strains and limits, by specific provisions, executive 
direction, as far as it can be done consistently with 
the preservation of its constitutional character. In 
resj^ect to the control over the public money, this 
doctrine is peculiarly applicable, and is in harmony 
with the great principle which I felt I was sustain^ 
ing in the controversy with the Bank of the United 
States." 

Yet gentlemen who daily denounce Federalists — 
who rejoice in the opposite name — who very coolly 
appropriate to themselves all the jDolitical virtue in 
the land, are clamorous for a measure which clothes 
the President with giant power. I trust, sir, for 
their sakes and for ours — for the love I bear our 
common country — for the hope I cherish of our trans- 
mitting to coming generations the noble institutions 
under which we live, that the system which those in 
power are striving to establish may never prevail in 
this land. 

One of the resolutions offered by me for the con- 
sideration of the House proposes the establishment 
of a Southern Bank. Such an institution is of great 
importance to the Southern and Southwestern States. 
It Avould supply a circulation of wide credit, and at 
the same time aid greatly our efforts to open a direct 
trade with foreign countries. In the Northern cities 
there is a vast accumulation of capital, and of late 



48 THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 

the most extensive financial arrangements have been 
effected. The comitry is rapidly accommodating it- 
self to circmnstances ; and Ave must here bring about 
a countervailing influence, or we shall be again out- 
stripped. I certainly do not desire to foster section- 
al prejudices ; there ought to be no hostility between 
the North and the South; but there should exist a 
generous rivalry. We are allied to each other by the 
glorious recollections of the past — by a participation 
in common struggles and common triumphs, and by 
the proud destiny which tlie futiu*e unfolds to us. 
Yet, sir, the South is "my own, my native land" — 
my home, and the birth-place of my children. Her 
people are my people; her hopes are my hopes; her 
interests are my interests. I desire to see her cities 
gi'ow, her languid commerce revive, her ports crowd- 
ed with shipping, her agTicultm*al industry enriching 
her own sons, and her merchants "princes in the 
land." I wish to see our educated young men engage 
more generally in mercantile piu'suits, and thus aid 
in developing the resources and increasing the wealth 
of their country by a comprehensive and enlightened 
conduct of commercial business. It would gi'atify 
me much to see one of my own sons engage success- 
fully in this honorable pm*suit. Why should the 
South longer hold back? Compare the exports of 
Charleston with those of New York : the difference 
is considerable; but the difference in the amount re- 
spectively imported into each of these cities is vastly 
greater. Let us stand idle no longer. But individ- 
ual capital in the South not being employed in the 
importing trade, it is important at once to afford the 



THE SUB-TREASURY SYSTEM. 49 

means to those who Avill engage in it by the estab- 
lishment of such a bank as I have mentioned. While 
it aids the great objects of our wishes, it will supply 
such a circulation as our wants demand. 

I have thus, sir, expressed my views of the impor- 
tant subject under consideration. It may be the last 
act of my public life. I know that the proscrij^tive 
spirit of party is gaining strength, and that it toler- 
ates no freedom of thought. If it be, I shall carry 
with me into private life the consolation derived from 
the advice of Cato of Utica to his son: "My son, 
avoid public life: it is incompatible with what is due 
to virtue and to the gods. " If the time has come 
when all independence of opinion must be sacrifi'^':^d 
at the shrine of power — when the people will sustain 
no man who dares to be candid, then I desire to 
have no participation in the administration of public 
affairs. I can be much happier and much more prof- 
itably employed in giving my attention to humbler 
duties. But, sir, I entreat gentlemen to pause — I 
m^ge them to resist this measm-e. I trust that they 
will not lend their aid in fastening it uj)on the coun- 
try. Let us look at history; let us remember that, 
in the language of Bolingbroke, it is philosophy 
teaching by examples. By such measures as that 
which I now call upon them to resist — by surrender- 
ing all power into the hands of a favorite ruler, j)op- 
ular liberty has always been betrayed. Let us be 
faithful to our great trust. From the battle-fields of 
all the earth upon which Liberty has set up her 
standard, there comes to us a cry to be faithful ; from 
the crumbled senate-halls of nations forever passed 

D 



50 THE SUB-TREASURT SYSTEM. 

away there comes to us an imploring appeal not to 
betray the cause of mankind. Let us not be deaf. 
But, sir, if this system must prevail — if, in all its co- 
lossal proportions, it is to be fixed upon the Ameri- 
can people, and their liberties shall expire under it, 
"thou canst not say I did it." Fisher Ames at one 
time, upon the floor of Congress, wished that he was 
able to raise his voice until it reached every log cabin 
beyond the mountains, that he might warn the un- 
suspecting inhabitants of the impending Indian tom- 
ahawk. I wish, sir, that I could make my voice 
heard in every dwelling throughout this land. Fee- 
ble as it is, I would admonish a great people to rise 
in their strength, and put down a system which, if 
once established, may fix upon them and their chil- 
dren a GIANT DESPOTISM. 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, JANUARY 6th, 1846. 

The Speaker announced as the unfinished business the following joint reso- 
lution, reported by Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs : 

'^ Resolved, hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America, in Congress assembled. That the President of the United States forth- 
with cause notice to be given to the government of Great Britain that the Con- 
vention between the United States and Great Britain, concerning the Territory 
of Oregon, of the sixth of August, 1827, signed at London, shall be annulled and 
abrogated twelve months after the expiration of the said term of notice, conform- 
ably to the second article of the said convention of the sixth of August, 1827." 

Mr. Hilliard, being entitled to the floor, rose and said : 

Mr. Speaker, — In entering upon the discussion of 
the great question at present before the House, it 
will be proper for a moment to recur to the history 
of the relations of the government of the United 
States with that of Great Britain in regard to the 
Territory of Oregon. It is well known that, after 
several fruitless attempts had been made to adjust the 
difference between them in relation to the sovereignty 
of that district of country, both powers had at length 
agreed to adjourn the question over, and they had mu- 
tually entered into the convention of 1818, by which 
treaty it was understood that the two j^arties were to 
enjoy certain privileges in regard to the territory, 
which were clearly specified and defined. In the sum- 
mer of 1827, when this convention was about to ex- 
pire by its own limitation, provision was made to per- 
petuate this mutual understanding, simply with the 



52 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

purpose of preserving peace between the parties, and 
without yielding any portion of the original claims 
which had been respectively put forth. It is now 
proposed in this House to terminate that convention, 
conformably to a provisional article embodied in the 
instrument itself. 

Should that termination be brought about as pro- 
posed, what will be the relative positions of this coun- 
try and of Great Britain in regard to the Oregon Ter- 
ritory ? For an answer to this question, we are refer- 
red back to the relation subsisting between them be- 
fore the convention was entered into. That relation 
must, then, be renewed, and the two nations will 
stand as conflicting claimants before the civilized 
world for the entire control over the whole territory. 
Here, then, comes in the question as to our title — 
whether founded on discovery, exploration, and set- 
tlement by our own citizens, or resting on the claims 
of Spain ; for we shall bring both our own title and 
the title of Spain to fortify our position, when Ave 
meet our competitor in the presence of the civilized 
world. I shall not enter on this question of title ; it 
has recently been exhibited with great ability, and I 
should only render myself tedious by repeating argu- 
ments which have already been placed in the clearest 
light. I simply desire to say, that on the question 
of our title to Oregon I rely mainly on the previous 
title of Spain, although I am far from underrating 
the merits of discoveries and settlements in that re- 
gion by our own enterprising citizens. I admit these, 
and duly appreciate them ; but, as I have already 
said, my main reliance is placed on the Spanish title 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 53 

— a title which we did not possess at the time our dis- 
pute Avith England arose ; for it is my belief that, had 
this title then been ours, the convention of 1818 would 
never have had an existence. So long as this title 
remained in the hands of Spain, Great Britain treat- 
ed it with the contempt which marked all her conduct 
toward that power. Pitt''s rooted aversion to Spain 
is well known ; he inherited it from liis 'father, and it 
made itself manifest in all his public conduct when 
the occasion provoked it ; indeed, it was but the sen- 
timent of the British nation. So that, although the 
moral power of that title was as great as it is now, it 
was not regarded with the respect which was due to 
it. That title has been recently so convincingly, I 
may say so triumphantly, pleaded by our present Sec- 
retary of State, that it must have carried actual dis- 
may into the British cabinet, and it has certainly 
placed our own claim to the country uj)on more ele- 
vated and commanding ground than it ever stood on 
before. It is now an Ameinccui title ; and, with what- 
ever contempt Great Britain might have felt herself 
warranted in treating it when in the possession of 
Sjxiin, she will not so treat it when it is put forth 
before the world as the claim of the United States. 
I do not speak this boastfully, but I desire that Great 
Britain shall knoAV that we comprehend our rights, 
and, I thank God, Ave are able to maintain them. 

I do not desire, sir, to l)e understood as putting 
out of the question our OAvn American title. 

A late Secretary of State (Mr. Calhoun), Avhose 
fame is commensurate Avith the extent of civilization, 
has placed the American claim on Captain Gray's dis- 



54 THE OREGON QUESTION, 

covery of the mouth of the Columbia Biver, and on 
that admitted principle of international law that, by 
whatsoever nation the mouth of a river is discovered, 
to that nation belongs the whole of the valley Avhich 
is drained by its waters. I feel this claim to be of 
great consequence ; and I must confess that I felt the 
greatest amazement when, in the debate of Saturday, 
a distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr, 
Winthrop) disclaimed all reliance upon it. Rich as 
Massachusetts is — and I acknowledge her rich in all 
that can give elevation to a state — I do not think her, 
however, in circumstances to abandon such an honor 
as this discovery. The gentleman came to this House, 
as I have understood, with a rich inheritance of an- 
cestral fiime, to which he has largely added in well- 
merited reputation of his own ; but if he thinks him- 
self entitled to disclaim and cast away this discovery 
by Captain Gray, I will take it up. If Massachusetts 
cast him oif, I will claim him for the United States. 
The gentleman has said that Captain Gray, as a navi- 
gator in the waters of the Pacific, had no thought of 
making discoveries on behalf of his country, or of add- 
ing any thing to her territorial claims, but had sim- 
ply been prosecuting a little harmless trade in fish 
and peltry. This may be so ; but still he coasted 
those shores in a vessel of his own, with our national 
flag waving over his head — in a vessel which, accord- 
ing to the doctrine of an eminent statesman, whose 
fame l:)elongs alike to Massachusetts and to his whole 
country, was part and parcel of the American soil. 

Mr. Webster, in his correspondence with Lord Ash- 
burton, states the doctrine with great clearness and 
force. 



THp OREGON QUESTION. 55 

"But, nevertheless, the law of nations, as I have 
stated it, and the statutes of governments founded on 
that law, as I have referred to them, show that en- 
lightened nations, in modern times, do clearly hold 
that the jurisdiction and laws of a nation accompany 
her ships, not only over the high seas, but into ports 
and harbors, or wheresoever else they may be water- 
borne, for the general purpose of governing and reg- 
ulating the rights, duties, and obligations of those on 
board thereof; and that to the extent of the exercise 
of this jurisdiction they are considered as parts of the 
territory of the nation herself." 

This principle, thus laid down, is not likely to be 
disputed hereafter among civilized nations ; and it re- 
sults from it that, while the jm'isdiction of the nation 
silently accompanies the vessel in all its course, ex- 
tending over it sleepless and efficient protection, all 
the discoveries which that vessel makes are for the 
nation. It was in this spirit that Captain Gray, 
when in that distant region he entered the mouth of 
that great stream which had never before been enter- 
ed by any navigator, gave to it the name of his ship 
— Columbia — thus identifying with it through all 
time memories of his country and his home. 

[Mr. Winthrop rose to explain, and the floor being 
yielded to him for that ^^urpose, he went on to say 
that the honorable gentleman from Alabama seemed 
entirely to have misunderstood him. So far from 
disclaiming or casting away this discovery of Captain 
Gray, he had, on the contrary, expressly said that he 
considered it, after all, as our best resort, and as con- 
taining in itself the best claim we could show to the 



56 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

possession of Oregon ; and lie had added that Massa- 
chusetts, and especially the people of Boston, felt 
proud of Gray as a fellow-citizen, and of his discovery 
as shedding a lustre upon the city of his birth and 
the state of which he was a citizen.] 

Mr. Hilliard resumed, and said he was glad to be 
set right, and, if he had misapprehended the gentle- 
man, to have that misapprehension corrected. He 
certainly had not intended to misrepresent him. 

[Mr. Winthrop. Certainly not.] 

Still, sir, it seems to me that the gentleman attaches 
too little value and importance to the title, of any 
sort, which we hold to the Oregon country. When 
Captain Gray trod the deck of his ship, having the 
American colors at his mast-head, whatever new ter- 
ritory or river he discovered was for us, the people 
of the United States. I congratulate Massachusetts 
that one of her native-born sons has by his enter- 
prise added so much splendor to the records of early 
discovery on this continent. Honored be the name 
of Gray. I am prepared to stand by the title of 
which he has furnished so valuable an element. As 
to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Winthrop), 
I can say with entire truth that I greatly admu-e his 
spirit and bearing ; on most points we entirely agree ; 
but I can not consent with the gentleman in any de- 
gree to disparage our title, because it is to be set 
against that of a powerful and imperious nation. I 
will not yield a tittle of it. The gentleman talked 
slightingly about musty records. I do not share 'in 
this feeling; I reverence musty records, and hold 
them as precious. With a musty record I can up- 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 57 

turn the whole face of human society. With the 
musty record of Magna Charta in my hand, I can 
revolutionize the face of Europe, if permitted to pre- 
sent its principles to the minds of her population. I 
trust that if the dust of age and neglect should ever 
gather on the sacred volume of our Constitution, and 
there be a descendant of mine on this floor, represent- 
ing a Southern people as I do, he will be able to call 
up from that musty record a moral power potent 
enough to shield their liberties, and to resuscitate and 
bless the condition of society throughout this land. 

On the evidence contained in musty records I found 
my belief that every inch of Oregon is ours. I can 
see no break in our title from latitude 42° to latitude 
54° 40"'. I do not say that I would not arrange for 
any portion of the territory lying between those j^ar- 
allels. It is not for me to make any such arrange- 
ment. That power has been placed by the Constitu- 
tion in the hands of another branch of this govern- 
ment. It is altogether proper that the President 
should regard all the great interests of the country in 
adjusting a difficult national question. I am not dis- 
posed to disturb his functions. I do not wish to com- 
mit the House on that point. But I hold our title to 
be so clear and so capable of demonstration, that, but 
for the colossal power of Great Britain, and the haugh- 
tiness with Avhich she has been accustomed to treat 
all other nations in the conduct of her diplomacy, I 
can not but believe that she would Avithdraw from 
the contest, overwhelmed by the force of argument 
which she can not refute. 

But there are some who admit that Great Britain 



58 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

can not maintain her claims to the territory in dis- 
pute upon the grounds to which I have referred, who 
yet insist that she may extend her possessions in that 
region upon the principle of continuity of domain. 
What right has Great Britain to set up a claim to 
Oregon on the ground of continuity of territory ? Is 
the seat of her sovereignty on this continent ? No ; 
her possessions here and her rights here are colonial. 
This continent is the seat of our empire. In this 
view, the venerable gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Adams), and all who have examined the sub- 
ject, will, I am sure, concur, and they will bear me 
out in saying that this ought to outweigh every oth- 
er consideration in a question of this character. The 
seat of England's sovereignty is across the Atlantic. 
Holding here only colonial possessions, she seeks to 
extend them still farther, when neither the compact- 
ness nor the security of her empire requires it, and 
when her claims come in conflict with those of a na- 
tion holding their original sovereignty on this conti- 
nent. 

If, then, our title to the territory of Oregon is clear, 
the next question which j)resents itself is as to our 
wisest course to perfect that title. What course ought 
we to take to secure the possession of that which is 
ours by title ? In my judgment — and I make the as- 
sertion with profound deference to the opinions of 
others — "inactivity" is no longer "masterly." I re- 
peat it, inactivity is no longei^ viasterly. There are 
occasions when, to save what is dear to us, it becomes 
necessary to act promj)tly : to act with decision, and 
to act immediately, is often the only way to act with 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 69 

effect. I do not see that we have any course left but 
to act, whether we regard the perpetuity of peace, or 
the possession of the territory in dispute. If we avouM 
avoid war, we must have the causes of war passed 
upon and settled. It is not always by adjourning 
over great, and difficult, and delicate questions, that 
war can be avoided. Our condition in regard to Or- 
egon is such as to demand action — intelligent, prompt, 
decisive, comprehensive action. If we should leave 
this question open, in the present state of the two 
countries, who can avoid seeing that war is inevita- 
ble? 

When Lord Ashburton returned to England, after 
having successfully arranged the difficulties about the 
northeastern boundary, and was congratulated in the 
British Parliament on his success, I believe that ex- 
perienced statesman said that the national sky was 
then clear and without a cloud, saving one minute 
speck upon the horizon, which he did not cloul)t 
would soon disappear. But how has his prediction 
been fulfilled? That little speck, then no bigger than 
a man's hand, and scarce perceptible on the far-off 
margin of the heavens, has since become a dark, and 
lowering, and portentous cloud; it has sAvept over 
the face of the sky, and hangs all over our north- 
western frontier, gloomy as night. The whole aspect 
of the question is changed ; and, if we wish now to 
maintain our position as the friends of peace, it is 
time we awoke to action. We must assert our rights ; 
we must shun a temporizing policy ; we must adopt 
vigorous measures, and carry them to the very far- 
thest verge to which they can be maintained without 



60 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

a violation of the terms of the convention ; other- 
wise we shall find that the population of the two na- 
tions, intermixing in that remote territory, carrying 
with them the prejudices and the heat of the con- 
tending parties, protected by and amenable to con- 
flicting jurisdictions, entering into the eager competi- 
tion of trade, will, at no distant day, precipitate us 
into a war with Great Britain. 

Nor, sir, is the danger of war all that is involved 
in the adjournment of this question ; we incur the 
danger of losing the territory altogether. And why 
do I think so ? From the Avhole colonial history of 
the British empu-e. There was a time when Spain 
possessed great and extensive colonies, but they have 
dwindled away. There was a time when France 
could boast of her colonies, but they have dwindled 
away. There was a time when Holland swept the 
seas with her fleets, and held important colonial pos- 
sessions, but they have dwindled away. In the mean 
time. Great Britain has gone on, growing in strength, 
extending in power, and spreading her armies abroad 
into every part of the habitable world. Her lan- 
guage, her laws, her military prowess fill both hemi- 
spheres, while she has belted the globe with her for- 
tresses, to say nothing of her colonies. The British 
people and their government well understand the 
management of colonies. When in Europe a short 
time since, a distinguished British diplomatist said 
to me, "Sir, France does not understand how to 
manage colonies; Ave do understand it;" and he spoke 
the truth. Since the year 1609, Great Britain has 
acquired no less than forty-one colonies, twenty-four 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 61 

of which she has obtained by settlement, nine by ca- 
pitulation, and eight by cession. In the possession 
of Oregon she seeks to plant herself there permanent- 
ly, and is employing all her power and all her skill 
to establish her authority over the greater part of 
that region. 

At Willamette Falls, in latitude 45° 20', there is 
a 2:)rosperous and growing settlement ; a factory, es- 
tablished by the Hudson's Bay Company, is in oper- 
ation there, under the control of Dr. M'Laughlin, fac- 
tor to that company, and whose copartner is her maj- 
esty's magistrate for that district. This settlement, 
sometimes called Oregon City, is under the influence 
of this Dr. M'Laughlin, a man of fine person, of fin- 
ished and winning manners, of great wealth and un- 
bounded hospitality ; an intelligent man, long expe- 
rienced in business, and well-informed on all subjects 
connected with his position. Under the auspices of 
such an individual, have we not reason to expect that 
Great Britain will go on to plant herself in the pos- 
session and occupancy of the country in such a man- 
ner that Ave can not expel her, at least not Avithout a 
severe struggle ? 

If Ave refuse to protect the thousands of our OAvn 
citizens Avho are, and the multitude more Avho soon 
will be, in Oregon, may they not conclude, as they 
are neglected by their OAvn gOA^ernment, to throAV oft" 
their allegiance, and go OA^er to a government Avhich 
never refuses and never forgets to protect its citizens 
in every part of the Avorld ? Their right to do so is 
a recognized principle of international laAv. If the 
government refuses its protection, citizens may throAv 



62 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

off their allegiance, and transfer themselves to the 
jm*isdiction of a government that will do its duty ; 
or, they may determine to set up for themselves, and 
rear an independent and rival government. Under 
these circumstances, I am decidedly in favor of ex- 
tending to them our laws and j)rotection. 

I propose now, sir, to consider the action we should 
take in carrying out this important policy; and, first, 
as to this question of notice. I think we ought at 
once to provide for giving the notice so often referred 
to in this debate ; nay, I think we must do it. Yet 
I am not for doing it either in the form proposed in 
the bill reported by the honorable chairman of the 
Committee on Territories (Mr. Douglass), or in the 
resolution more recently reported by the distinguish- 
ed chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 
It is my misfortune to differ in opinion from both, 
and it is my purpose, before resuming my seat, to 
offer an amendment, striking out in the resolution 
the words which refer to giving this notice by a joint 
act of both houses, and inserting a provision empow- 
ering the President of the United States to give such 
notice when, in his opinion, the public welfare shall 
require it. I was at first inclined, with the gentle- 
man from Kentucky near me (Mr. Davis), to consider 
the giving of this notice as an exercise of the execu- 
tive power with which the House had nothing to do ; 
but, on further reflection, I have changed that opin- 
ion. It is very true that the formation of such a 
convention is an exercise of the treaty-making pow- 
er, but it does not therefore follow that the dissolv- 
ing the convention must be the exclusive act of that 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 63 

power. That is a different question ; because the 
"government of the United States," according to the 
terms of the convention, was one of the high contract- 
ing parties, and of that government this House, as 
well as the President and Senate, constitute a part. 
Yet there are grave reasons why Congress, instead 
of taking the power into its own hands, should lodge 
it in the hands of the President. I shall not be sus- 
pected of a disposition to increase, unnecessarily, the 
power of the President ; but I am willing to give the 
present executive the power which he asks in this 
matter. I am for giving to the executive all the en- 
ergy and efficiency which he requires to act in a mat- 
ter of this kind. The country has placed the Presi- 
dent where he is, and the responsibility is his. When 
the government of Great Britain learns that he is 
clothed with this power, they will comprehend what 
a mighty element it is, and will be the more inclined 
to act with deference to him and to us. It seems to 
me that all the friends of peace in the House should 
consent to such an arrangement. It has been said 
very generally that negotiations have been renewed 
at London — 

[Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, chairman of the Committee 
of Foreign Affairs. That is not a fact. They have 
not been renewed.] 

If not, they may yet be. I trust they will be. I 
am for multiplying the chances for adjustment and 
peace. The President will have the whole field be- 
fore him, and I am for lodging with him this great 
element of negotiation. As proposed by the bill from 
the Committee on Territories, and by the resolution 



64 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

now under consideration, the notice is made absolute ; 
it goes forth in a hostile sha23e, and no choice is left 
to the President as to times and seasons, which are 
often matters of great importance. The power, if 
given as I propose it, will be quite as effectual as if 
exercised absolutely by the House, yet it Avill leave 
to the wisdom and discretion of the executive the se- 
lection of the manner and time of giving the notice. 
It imposes on him no responsibility which any exec- 
utive ought to wish to shun. It places hun in a 
grand position, invested with ample power, conferred 
by the confidence of his country, and it opens before 
him the opportunity of accomplishing great good for 
the nation and for the world. 

I wish to present another view. I desire the adop- 
tion of a different plan from that which has been 
reported from the Committee on Territories as to 
the extension of our laws over Oregon. It is a part 
of the plan proposed by the committee to make do- 
nations of land to actual settlers, and this while the 
convention still continues in force; this I can not 
but consider as a violation of that instrument. I do 
not think so as to the principle of settlement ; our 
people may go into that country in any numbers, and 
they ought to be protected. The bill provides, too, 
for the extension of the laws of Iowa over Oregon. 
This will be a mere nominal extension of jurisdiction, 
and will result in no practical good. It will serve 
only to make the settlers in that remote district of 
country acquainted witli our laws by their threaten- 
insfs, but the measure can afford them no efficient 
protection. I should prefer the establishment of a 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 65 

territorial government, so organized as not to conflict 
with the provisions of the convention. My plan 
would be to send them out a governor — a sagacious, 
prudent, experienced, cautious man, who would be 
able to sweep the Avhole field with his eye, and give 
information and counsel to the government here as 
to what was doing and what ought to be done. If 
any gentleman doubts our power to establish such a 
government over the whole of the territory, or ap- 
prehends collision with the British authorities, then, 
I say, place your governor south of the Columbia 
River; that, at least, is a portion of the territory 
which, I presume, no gentleman in the House is pre- 
pared to surrender. The language of every one here, 
I doubt not, will be like that of the poet : 

"And many a banner shall be torn, 
And many a knight to ground be borne, 
And many a sheaf of shafts be spent, 
Ere Scotland's king shall cross the Trent." 

The ofiicers of the Hudson's Bay Company are 
there, and British magistrates of some description 
are there also; why should not our officers and our 
magistrates be there too? Will not their authority 
carry with it respect for the American laws and go^'- 
ernment? 

Besides the measure which I have just been con- 
sidering, certain resolutions have been introduced 
here which I desire for a moment to refer to. Those 
oifered by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Winthrop), which look to the adjustment of the Ore- 
gon dispute without w^ar, I certainly admire. The 
spirit in which they are presented calls for my pro- 
foundest respect, and I hail them as the exponent of 

E 



66 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

the sentiment of an enlightened and Christian age ; 
and yet I can not vote for them. In my humble 
judgment, the matter to which they refer — the mode 
of adjusting a pending political question — ^belongs to 
another branch of this government, and their adop- 
tion by us might seriously interfere with the exercise 
of its functions. As to the counter resolution intro- 
duced by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Doug- 
lass), I am decidedly opposed to it. It declares that 
the whole of Oregon is ours up to the parallel of 54° 
40', and is intended to commit this House against 
any negotiation which brings us less than that extent 
of territory. Now I have already stated my person- 
al conviction as to the extent of our rights, but I will 
not consent to express any legislative opinion on a 
matter which clearly belongs to another department. 
I am for giving the executive full discretion and the 
amplest scope. This is no party question ; it sweeps 
beyond all such considerations, and, in the measures 
connected with it, j)arty feelmgs and influences should 
be far from every mind. The country is in a crisis. 
I feel it to be a crisis; and I am ready to say God 
speed to the man who shall carry us honorably and 
safely through it. At an hour like this, I will vote 
for no resolutions embodying opinions on the one 
hand or the other. Let the government take ground 
which is impregnable, and maintain it with a firm- 
ness that shall command respect. 

And now, sir, I am met with the question, "Sup- 
pose these measures should lead to war?" I do not 
think they will lead to war ; they ought not. But 
we are not at liberty, in this matter, to turn away 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 67 

from a just consideration of the national rights and 
the national honor, to look at consequences. We are 
going onward, as we should, protecting our own citi- 
zens. We are following the example of the republic 
of Rome, which caused Roman law to prevail, and 
the iEgis of Roman protection to be extended wher- 
ever Roman citizens passed. I abhor war. Re- 
views have no charms for me. The detailed history 
of battles, and all the slaughters of victory, do but 
disgust me. I never look with admiration on scenes 
like these, unless it is when I see a brave and suffer- 
ing people, borne doAvn by oppression, rising up, Avith 
united heart, to beat back their oppressors. 

In regard to the lust of conquest, Avhich has been 
spoken of as being a derogation to our national char- 
acter, I am ready to confess that I have heard Avith 
regret the language held by some gentlemen here 
about pushing forAvard our acquisitions, and planting 
the American eagle on various points of this conti- 
nent, and all over the Avorld. The expression of such 
sentiments is the very course to arm all the Avorld 
against us. The French Revolution has operated 
more than all other things to disgrace and overthroAv 
all republican ideas in Europe. And Avhy? Be- 
cause the lust of conquest Avhich grcAv out of and ac- 
companied that revolution rose so high as to become 
a terror to the Avorld. France — republican France — 
sent her armies abroad in every direction. Their 
movements evinced the highest military skill, and 
Avere folloAved every Avhere by the most splendid vic- 
tories, until French valor Avas at once the admiration 
and the dread of all surrounding nations, and the 



68 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

name of France was like tlie sound of a trumpet to 
the remotest bounds of the world. But what was the 
effect? A terrible retribution. And the memory of 
those conquests and those costly victories is now so 
linked to the notion of republicanism in Europe that 
nothing can break the association. Republican ideas 
must struggle up for half a century before they can 
reach the position they held in Europe before that 
great convulsion. I wish for nothing of the kind 
among us. I deprecate every indication of sucli a 
spirit. I l^elieve our system of government to be the 
wisest and our institutions the happiest which the 
world ever saAV ; and regarding as I do the happiness 
of my race, I hope they will spread throughout man- 
kind ; but let them spread by their own inherent 
moral power, until the happiness they produce shall 
create a spectacle for the world to see and to admire. 
Let this be the triumjDh of my country. I desire her 
to realize the proj)hetic description of Archbishop 
Cranmer : 

"Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, 
Her honor and the greatness of her name 
Shall be, and make new nations ; she shall flourish, 
And, like a mountain cedar, reach her branches 
To all the plains about her ; 
Our children's children shall sec this. 
And bless Heaven." 

Peaceful triumphs alone are those which I seek — 
the benign virtues of reason and truth. These I de- 
sire, and none other. If, however, while pursuing 
such a policy — a policy Avise, vigorous, but concilia- 
tory, war should come upon us, I trust the country 
will be prepared to meet it. If it should come upon 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 69 

US as the result of a moderate but firm assertion of 
our national rights, the response in every American 
bosom must be, "Let it come." The venerable gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts near me (Mr. Adams), in 
tones which rang on my heart like a trumpet, remind- 
ed me of the days of our revolutionary glory. The 
old fire which blazed so brightly in that ever-memo- 
rable struggle seemed to be flashing up within him, 
and, while I listened to his patriotic strains, I felt 
assured that in such a cause we should all act as one 
man. If we should go into the war in this spirit, I 
should feel little anxiety as to how we should come 
out of it. The power of England is fast culminating 
to its highest point. It must soon reach that climax 
in the history of nations from which they have, one 
after another, commenced their decline, and she ought 
not to enter into a contest with a great power. If 
Avise counsels prevail, she Avill not. Yet, if she should 
be so irrational, on the ground of such a controversy 
as that of Oregon, to rush into such a contest, I trust 
that she will be driven back from these shores shorn 
of her splendor ; and she may be very sure that when 
this happens it will prove no temporary eclipse, but 
will endure for all time to come, and she will be left 
a portent in the political heavens, 

" Shedding disastrous twilight over half the nations.'' 

I know her power — I know the multitude of her 
fleets — I know the bravery and discipline of her ar- 
mies ; but, in a war thus brought upon us, we ought 
not to waste a moment in looking at these. We 
ought to feel confident in our position, confident in 
our resources, confident in the patriotism of our peo- 



70 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

pie, and, above all, confident in the blessing of the 
great Ruler of nations. With these, and with a just 
cause, I feel that this country is able to resist any 
attack, and I am confident that we should be good 
against a world in arms. 

But I am admonished by the clock that I must 
hasten to some other topics which yet remain. 

I now invite gentlemen to turn their attention for 
a moment to the importance of Oregon, for I believe 
that its intrinsic importance has been overlooked or 
much undervalued. And, first, looking at it in a 2'>o- 
liticcd view, it must be admitted to be of gTcat value 
to us. England has a frontier to the north of us 
extending three thousand miles, and stretching en- 
tirely across the continent. If we permit her to come 
from that line some five hundred miles down the coast 
of the Pacific, we shall give her the opportunity of 
filling up the only break Avhich now exists in that line 
of continuous fortification with which her energy and 
vast resources have encompassed the globe. "Why is- 
it that she presses with so much earnestness and per- 
tinacity for a strip of land along our Avestern borders? 
Is it the soil? Is it the trade? No. She could 
enjoy the trade if the territory was ours ; and it cer- 
tainly would be, in that view, better to resign a strip 
of territory than to lose a good neighbor. These, 
however, are not the considerations which make her 
so anxious and so persevering. It is the political 
value of the territory, which, with her accustomed sa- 
o-acity, she sees and appreciates. Statesmen ought 
not to bound their view by things which are at the 
moment within the range of their eyes. They ought 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 71 

to lift their vision until it embraces the broad field 
which belongs to the future also. This the British 
statesmen are in the habit of doing ; and we, if we 
are wise, will follow their example. Before we count 
the value of Oregon, we must look across the Pacific, 
and estimate that trade with China and the Eastern 
ArchijDclago which is soon to open upon us in all its 
riches, grandeur, and magnificence. As things now 
exist, our vessels, returning from the ports of Eastern 
Asia, have, as it were, to run the gauntlet through a 
long line of British naval posts, from which they are 
exposed to attack. Her numerous naval stations 
enable her to keep her fleets in every sea, and how- 
ever widely-spread this Eastern commerce may be, and 
however inestimable its value, it is subject in a mo- 
ment to be arrested. But if we establish our posts 
and plant our settlements on the shores of the Pacific, 
our commerce will float in comparative safety over 
the tranquil bosom of that wide-spread ocean. Sure- 
ly, in this view of the subject, it would be poor policy 
in us to yield what is essential to the prosperity of 
our commerce in that part of the world. 

Again, I regard this controversy respecting Oregon 
as a national question in the strictest sense of the 
term. I differed from some of my Whig friends re- 
specting the annexation of Texas, for I viewed it, as 
I view this, as a national question. In adopting my 
conclusions, and in conforming to them my course of 
action in relation to that important subject, I was not 
conscious of one particle of selfish feeling. What I 
did I did for my country, for the whole country, for 
the welfare and aggrandizement of this nation. I 



72 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

was in Europe when tliat question was first agitated, 
and witnessed the jealousies of European cabinets in 
regard to it, and their intrigues and combinations to 
defeat the annexation, and I felt my American blood 
roused at the spectacle. I look on Oregon in just 
the same way ; with us it is no Northern, no South- 
ern question. I have come up here as a national 
representative. True, I can not wholly divest myself 
of feelings which were born with me, and of early 
memories which nothing can efface ; but, God help- 
ing me, I intend to do strict and equal justice to all. 
In my course in this hall, I shall look alone to 
the national aggrandizement and the national glory; 
and I know well that in such a course the people I 
represent will sustain me. I have not been long 
enough their representative to say, with John Ran- 
dolph, that no man ever had such constituents ; but 
I have lived among them, and know them, and I 
know they will sustain me. I shall enter into no 
movement of a merely party character, nor shall I 
})e found entering into a combination to elevate or 
to depress any section of the country at the expense 
of another. My political career may be short, and 
the accomplishment may fall far short of the purpose, 
but the conception of duty, at least, shall be glorious; 
and if an earnest effort to come up to it constitutes 
glory, then my career, long or short, shall be glorious. 
Gentlemen have spoken of the policy of President 
Monroe, who declared to the nations of the Old World 
that they Avould not be tolerated in any interference 
with the balance of power on this continent, and that 
they must establish no more colonies on our shores. 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 73 

I am in favor of this policy, so far as it can with 
justice be carried out. Where European nations have 
already j)ossessions on this continent, they should be 
suffered to hold them without molestation ; but we 
may well oppose their planting new colonies in this 
our western world. The honor of this sentiment, 
however, it is but fair to say, belongs, justly, as much 
to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Adams) 
as it does to Mr. Monroe ; for, although the latter 
was the chief magistrate, the former was at the same 
time Secretary of State, and if he did not suggest, he 
certainly sanctioned the policy. The present execu- 
tive maintains the same doctrine, and, I doubt not, 
the whole country will heartily come into it. 

I have some facts bearing upon the commercial 
value of Oreg-on to us which I deem of the first mo- 
ment. England and the United States are the only 
competitors for the trade of southern China ; the 
trade of the northern ]3ortion of China is in the hands 
of the Russians, and is mainly conducted at an animal 
fair held at Kiachta, lasting for about two months, 
at which the traders of the two nations assemble and 
carry on their commercial transactions ; but south 
China is in the hands of England and this country, 
who are competitors for the profits of the trade. En- 
gland imports every year four hundred and fifty thou- 
sand chests of tea, while we import two hundred thou- 
sand, besides muslins and silks, and other commod- 
ities of great value. 

In this gainful traffic England regards us a rival 
power, and she is by no means disposed to give it up. 
The coast of Oregon fronts that of China, and pre- 



74 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

sents great facilities for carrying on this important 
branch of our commerce. Fully to avail ourselves, 
however, of these advantages, we ought to connect 
Oregon with the State of Missouri by the construc- 
tion of a rail-road. This is not so wild and visionary 
a scheme as at the first view some gentlemen may be 
disposed to consider it. 

Let them reflect that it is but about fifteen years 
since Mr. Huskisson lost his life in an experimental 
trip between Liverpool and Manchester, over the first 
rail-road ever constructed in England. And what is 
she doing in that system now ? And then look on 
the Continent, and see already completed a large part 
of one continuous line of rail-road, which is to stretch 
out twenty-seven hundred miles, entirely across Eu- 
rope, from Odessa to Bremen, while another line will 
presently extend from the Adriatic for near a thou- 
sand miles. And yet some gentlemen stand and look 
aghast when any one speaks of a rail-road across our 
continent, as if it were something wondrous and alto- 
gether unheard of before. Should such a road be con- 
structed, it will become the great highway of the 
world ; we shall, before long, monopolize the trade of 
the eastern coasts of Asia. At present, it is stated 
that the shortest possible voyage from London to 
Canton occupies seventy days ; but it is estimated, 
over such a rail-road, a traveler might pass from Lon- 
don to Canton in forty days. There is no wildness, 
no extravagance in the idea, but it is a matter of so- 
ber sense and plain calculation. "What a magnificent 
idea does it present to the mind, and who can calcu- 
late the results to which it will lead ! With a route 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 75 

SO short and so direct as this, might we not reason- 
ably hope to command both the trade and the travel 
of the world ? Ingi^afted on this plan, and as its nat- 
ural adjunct, is the extension of a magnetic telegraph, 
which will follow the course of the road ; unite these 
two, and where is the imagination which can gi\asp 
the consequences ! Whale-ships, returning from their 
long and hazardous voyages, might touch upon the 
Pacific coast, and instantly transmit across the con- 
tinent tidings of their safety and their success. 

In either of the views which I have presented, it 
is impossible that the importance of Oregon can be 
overlooked. I trust that these great results will be 
realized, and I hope at no distant day to see a mail 
line established across the continent. England has 
very recently been engaged in an experiment in as- 
certaining the shortest overland route across the Con- 
tinent to the East Indies, and I believe the Oriental 
Steam Company has determined on that through 
Germany, by Trieste ; but if we construct this rail- 
road, she will then be dependent on us for the short- 
est and most expeditious, as well as the safest route 
to China and her East India possessions. Is not the 
language of Berkeley in the j^rogress of fulfillment 
when he Avrote that immortal line, 

"Westward the star of empire takes its wayl" 

When Oregon shall be in our possession, when we 
shall have established a profitable trade with China 
through her ports, when our ships traverse the Pacific 
as they now cross the Atlantic, and all the countless 
consequences of such a state of things begin to flow 
in upon us, then will be fulfilled that vision which 



76 THE OREGON QUESTION. 

rapt and filled the mind of Nunez as he gazed over 
the placid waves of the Pacific. 

I will now address myself for a moment to the iiior- 
al aspect of this great question. Gentlemen have 
talked much and eloquently about the horrors of war. 
I should regret the necessity of a war ; I should de- 
plore its dreadful scenes ; but if the possession of Or- 
egon gives us a territory opening upon the nation 
prospects such as I now describe, and if, for the sim- 
ple exercise of our rights in regard to it, Great Brit- 
ain should wage upon us an unjust war, the regret 
which every one must feel will at least have much to 
counterbalance it. One of England's own writers 
has said, "The possible destiny of the United States 
of America, as a nation of one hundred millions of 
freemen, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
living under the laws of Alfred, and speaking the 
language of Shakspeare and Milton, is an august con- 
ception.""' 

It is an august conception, finely embodied ; and I 
trust in God that it will, at no distant time, become 
a reality. I trust that the world will see, through all 
time, our people living not only under the laws of 
Alfred, but that they will be heard to speak througli- 
out our wide-spread borders the language of Shaks- 
peare and Milton. Above all is it my prayer that, 
as long as our posterity shall continue to inhabit these 
mountains and plains, and hills and valleys, they may 
be Ibuiid living under the sacred institutions of Chris- 
tianity. Put these things together, and what a pic- 
ture do they present to the mental eye ! Civilization 
and intelligence started in the East ; they have trav- 



THE OREGON QUESTION. 77 

eled and are still traveling westAvard ; but when they 
shall have completed the circuit of the earth, and 
reached the extremest verge of the Pacific shores, 
then, unlike the fabled god of the ancients, who dip- 
ped his glowing axle in the western wave, they will 
there take up their permanent abode ; then shall Ave 
enjoy the sublime destiny of returning these blessings 
to their ancient seat ; then Avill it be ours to give the 
priceless benefits of our free institutions, and the pure 
and healthful light of the Gospel, back to the dark 
family Avhich has so long lost both truth and freedom ; 
then may Christianity plant herself there, and Avhile 
Avith one hand she points to the Polynesian Isles, re- 
joicing in the late recovered treasure of revealed truth, 
Avith the other present the Bible to the Chinese. It 
is our duty to aid in this great Avork. I trust Ave 
shall esteem it as much our honor as our duty. Let 
us not, like some of" the British missionaries, give 
them the Bible in one hand and opium in the other, 
but bless them only Avith the pure Avord of truth. I 
hope the day is not distant — soon, soon may its daAv^n 
arise — to shed upon the farthest and the most be- 
nighted of nations the splendor of more than a troj^- 
ical sun. 



Mr. Hilliard closed by ofiering an amendment such 
as he had indicated in the course of his remarks. 



PAY OF TROOPS TO BE EMPLOYED 
AGAINST MEXICO. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, JULY 16th, 1846. 

Mr. Speaker, — We are at war with Mexico, and I 
rise to speak of that war freely. It is not my inten- 
tion to discuss the origin of that war, but I wish to 
give my views as to the manner in which it should 
be conducted, and to state the objects which ought to 
be secured by carrying it on successfully. This is 
not the time to investigate the causes which led to 
the war, but it is all-important that we should com- 
prehend the responsibility that rests upon us, and see 
clearly the results of the contest. I believe, sir, it is 
understood on all sides that there are three questions 
affecting our relations with Mexico, and which must 
be settled before our troops are recalled: the debts 
acknowledged to be due to our citizens, the annexa- 
tion of Texas by our government, and the boundary 
line between the two republics. All these are sub- 
jects of dispute, and they must be disposed of before 
peace is restored. 

As to the first of these causes of-diiference, it is 
undoubtedly our right and our duty to enforce the 
payment of debts acknowledged to be just, and so long 
withheld; but this alone would not have disturbed 
the peace between the two countries. "We should 
have endeavored to bring Mexico to a settlement of 



PAY OF TROOPS EMPLOYED AGAINST MEXICO. 79 

these claims, without resorting to arms to enforce 
them ; but, as we are now at war, all causes of disa- 
greement must be removed, and the debts must be 
paid. 

As to the annexation of Texas, the right of the 
United States to undertake and accomplish that 
measure is too clear to be questioned; nor can we 
permit Mexico, or any other power, to interfere with 
or to dispute that right. Our self-respect and our 
obligations to Texas alike forbid it. 

Texas has already been acknowledged to be an in- 
dependent state by England, by France, by Holland, 
and by our own government ; Mexico could not, there- 
fore, rightfully complain of the United States for the 
act of annexation. Admitting Texas to be independ- 
ent for one purpose is to admit her to be indej^endent 
for all purposes. There can be no qualified political 
independence; the very term independence implies 
perfect freedom from allegiance to any other power. 

The truth is, sir, the annexation of Texas was a 
natural, proper, and inevitable result, gi'owing out of 
the sympathies, the kindred blood, and the neighbor- 
hood of the two countries. Long before the event 
occurred, it was clearly foreseen that it would take 
place. 

- When that great political question was under dis- 
'cussion, I was in Europe. I had the honor, at that 
time, to represent our government at the court of 
Brussels, and in an official interview with Count 
Goblet DAlviella, the Minister of Foreign Affiiirs, 
I distinctly announced to him that the annexation 
would take place some time before it occurred. 



80 PAY OF TROOPS EMPLOYED AGAINST MEXICO. 

The whole resources of the Mexican republic, aid- 
ed by European powers hostile to it, could not have 
prevented it. Mexico felt that her power over Tex- 
as was gone; and I learned, in that interview to 
which I have just referred, that she was hostile to the 
measure of annexation, not because she had any hope 
of reducing that state again into obedience to her au- 
thority, but it was her wish to interpose a feeble in- 
dependent republic between her borders and our own. 
She desired to establish a barrier which might shut 
out the j^oj^ular surges of this gTeat country, lest they 
should submerge her; and she was actually prepared 
to acknowledge the independence of Texas, provided 
that republic would stipulate never to become an- 
nexed to the United States. While I thus state my 
opinion with so much freedom in favor of the right 
of our government to acquire Texas, I do not hesi- 
tate, at the same time, to say that it Avould have been 
wiser to have effected that great measure by treaty, 
and to have conciliated Mexico, than to have precip- 
itated the question and plunged the country into Avar. 
It is impossible to deny to Mr. Clay the tribute of 
our unqualified admiration when we regard his course 
upon this question; he saAV the direction Avhich the 
popular current Avas taking, but Avith true courage he 
resisted and attempted to control it. He desired to 
avoid Avar Avith a neighboring government professing 
to be republican, and he Avould haA^e treated a people 
too feeble to resist us Avith forbearance and consider- 
ation. If he had been elected to the Presidency, 
Texas Avould have been annexed, and it Avould have 
been accomplished Avithout shedding a drop of blood. 



PAY OF TROOPS EMPLOYED AGAINST MEXICO. 81 

But, sir, we are at war; we can not permit Mexico 
to question our right to annex Texas, and peace can 
not be restored between the two countries until this 
question is forever settled. 

As to the western boundary of Texas, it is not my 
intention to discuss that question at this time ; it is 
not before this forum ; it will be settled by negotia- 
tion with Mexico, and it is not my desire to embar- 
rass it by calling upon this House for an expression 
of opinion in regard to it. 

These, then, are the objects to be attained in this 
war. Let us keep them steadily in view ; there is 
great danger lest we lose sight of them. 

As to the manner in which the war should be con- 
ducted, it seems to me that it ought to be pressed 
with vigor ; that a powerful army should be sent into 
the field, and that every thing should be done which 
can be done to subdue Mexico speedily, and to com- 
pel her to submit to just and reasonable terms as the 
basis of peace. A protracted war is to be dreaded ; 
it would engender a spirit of conquest, and, losing 
sight of the legitimate objects which are now before 
us, we might seek to overrun and hold Mexico in 
perpetual subjection. 

The war ought to be conducted with humanity, but 
in this instance vigor and humanity are identical. 

When Mexico submits to our arms, we must not 
insist upon hard terms in negotiating a treaty of 
peace ; a powerful and great nation may well afford 
to be generous and magnanimous. We must have a 
speedy peace, or the lust of conquest, rising beyond 
our control, will impel us to carry our victorious 

F 



82 PAY OF TROOPS EMPLOYED AGAINST MEXICO. 

arms over all Mexico, and the nation will feel what 
Macbeth felt when he exclauned, 

" I am in blood steep'd now so far, 
Returning were as tedious as go o'er." 

In concluding a negotiation with Mexico, we may 
find it necessary to take a part of her territory in 
payment of our just claims against her. It is very 
desirable to acquire California, and seat our power 
on the shores of the Pacific ; but it must be freely 
offered to us, in payment of debts due to us, or we 
must pay liberally for it. It must not be torn away 
from a feeble republic as a conquered province. 

I feel a strong desire to see our institutions estab- 
lished upon that distant coast, confronting, as it does, 
a benighted nation long sunk in barbarism, but teem- 
ing with all the elements of civilization, and which, 
when roused and attracted by the energy and enter- 
prise of our population, will seek our shores, and thus 
bring the New World in contact with the Old in a 
realm where they never met before. 

We need feel no apprehension as to this extension 
of our territorial possessions ; the structure of our 
government will enable it to embrace the widest em- 
pire. Like the fabled tent in the Arabian Nights, 
its dimensions may be extended at pleasure. It will 
cover a small or a great people ; expansion will not 
impair its strength. 

These, sir, are my views of the war, very briefly but 
very frankly stated. It is impossible to overlook the 
advantages which may be derived from the contest in 
which we are engaged, but we must never forget what 
is due to ourselves as a Christian people; we must 



PAY OF TROOPS EMPLOYED AGAINST MEXICO, 83 

never forget what is due to the cause of mankind, 
nor must we overlook what is due to a feeble repub- 
lic. The first movement on the part of Mexico to- 
ward the restoration of peace must be met by us 
promptly and generously. 

Every consideration demands this from us. It is 
far more important to preserve the principles of a 
free government than to acquire any territory, how- 
ever extensive or however desirable it may be. 

I shall vote for this bill making appropriations for 
the support of the troops engaged in the war with 
Mexico. I am for granting the largest supplies which 
the contest demands. It is no longer a question of 
peace or war ; we are already engaged in the conflict, 
and the arms of the country must be sustained until 
an honorable peace can be secured. 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, JANUARY 5th, 1847. 

The House being in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, and 
having under consideration the bill to raise, for a limited time, an additional mil- 
itary force, and for other purposes, Mr. Hilliard rose and said : 

Mr. Chairman, — The debate wliicli arose upon re- 
ferring the President's message to the several com- 
mittees took so wide a range that I forbore to take 
any part in it, but preferred to wait until some prac- 
tical question should come up which would afford bet- 
ter ground for what I desire to say. Such a ques- 
tion is now before us, and it involves the same topics. 
I do not wish to be understood as complaining of the 
spirited and interesting debate which has already ta- 
ken place ; I only regret the asperities which, in too 
many instances, have marked it on both sides. In 
all constitutional governments where the represent- 
ative principle is recognized, great latitude of debate 
must be allowed. The spirit of liberty will make it- 
self heard wherever it exists. It spoke out in the 
stormy debates of the ancient republics, and it has 
often shaken the throne and arrested kingly power 
in England. In the language of Burke, "Something 
must be pardoned to the spirit of liberty." The 
course of executive power must be boldly surveyed ; 
it ought to be. Even in royal governments, where 
it is usual for the monarch in person to address the 
legislative bodies, it is customary, in discussing the 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 85 

reply to" the speech from the throne, for the widest 
latitude of debate to be indulged in, and the utmost 
freedom of remark is permitted without complaint. 
In England, especially, the reply of Parliament to the 
royal speech usually manifests the highest degree of 
jealousy on the part of that body for the rights of 
Englishmen. And shall we, wdio profess to have yet 
larger views of public liberty, attempt to restrain the 
utmost latitude of remark on the course of those in- 
trusted with power? Certainly not. Previous to 
Mr. Jefferson's time, the American presidents came 
to Congress at the opening of the session, and ad- 
dressed both Houses in person. It was usual, too, 
for each House to reply to the speech of the Presi- 
dent; and this afforded the 023portunity of discuss- 
ing with freedom the executive measures. At the 
opening of the session of Congress in 1801, Mr. Jeffer- 
son adopted, as most convenient, the j^ractice of send- 
ing a message to the two houses ; and although this 
form of executive communication made a reply un- 
necessary, yet w^e are informed by the parliamentary 
history of the period that a very animated debate 
took place on the toj^ics it contained. I trust the 
day will never come when, in this government, such 
freedom will be denied. A French king once said, 
"I am the State," but a President of the United 
States can use no such language. He occupies, it is 
true, an elevated and very influential position in the 
government, but the severest examination of his 
course in the exercise of his functions, in whatever di- 
rection they may be put forth, is consistent with the 
purest patriotism. 



86 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

While, then, sir, I claim for myself, and for other 
gentlemen of this House, the privilege of discussing 
executive communications with the greatest freedom, 
it is not my 2:)urpose to enter at large upon an exam- 
ination of the message which the President has lately 
sent to Congress. There are, however, some subjects 
which it brings before us of such magnitude, and 
which must so largely affect the character and happi- 
ness of the country, that I can not consent to let 
them pass without giving my views of them. We 
have reached an im23ortant point in our history. We 
are at war. For once, I believe in the existence of a 
crisis. It is not that there is any thing j)ortentous 
in the elements which surround us ; the nation with 
which we are at war is a feeble one, and w^e have 
nothing to fear from her arms. But a question which 
was started at the close of the last session, and which 
has already been revived since the commencement of 
the present one, is sufficiently ominous.* Like a sea- 
bird driven far inland, it may be a messenger which 
gives notice of the coming tempest. This question 
grows out of the great to2:)ic presented in the message, 
the war ; and it is here, in this hall, where we have 
heard some extraordinary declarations made in con- 
nection with it, that I desire to sj^eak of it. I do 
not wish to precipitate this great question ; it ought 
not to have been brought here ; but, as it is here, it 
must be met. This hall should not be converted 
into an arena for hot controversy, by bringing for 
discussion here a subject Avhich does not fairly come 

* The Hon. Mr. Wilmot's resolution as to slavery, and the Hon. Mr. Preston 
King's bill and speech on the same subject. 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 87 

within the range of our deliberations, and whicli must 
shake, not only this Capitol, but this republic. 

But, first, as to the war. This is the great theme 
of the message — the prominent colossal figure in the 
foreground of the picture, about which the otlier ob- 
jects are grouped in humbler and smaller proportions. 
I suppose it must be so ; our foreign relations, with 
the single unhappy exception referred to, are all of 
the most amicable kind ; our internal tranquillity is 
perfect ; the vast resources of our country are in a 
course of prosperous development. There is but the 
one check to our prosperity ; but for this, the Presi- 
dent informs us, the public debt would have been dis- 
charged, and Ave might now have been engaged in 
plans for increasing the happiness of our people, and 
advancing in our high career of civilization. But, 
though it must be admitted that war is a calamity, 
yet I can not bring myself to agree with thos(j who 
think it best to arrest all our movements against 
Mexico. I concur in opinion Avith a distinguished 
senator from Delaware (Mr. J. M. Clayton), who 
some days since took occasion to say that he was de- 
cidedly in favor of sustaining the government in the 
prosecution of the Avar. My honorable friend from 
Philadelphia (Mr. J, P. IngersoU) has aA'-owed the 
same determination. I do not see that any other 
course is left us. The question is not now Avhether 
Ave shall plunge into a war or not ; the question is, 
a war having been commenced, shall Ave sustain it, 
or shall Ave let it go down? Shall Ave infuse ncAV 
vigor into the Avar by voting the men and the money 
asked for, or shall Ave Avithdraw all support from the 



88 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

war, and arrest it before it has accomplished its ob- 
jects ? 

If the question were now presented to me between 
peace and war, I should undoubtedly be in favor of 
peace. But no such election is presented to us. The 
spectacle before us is a war in progress, our own coun- 
try on one side, a foreign country on the other ; our 
own country, at every step which our armies take, 
holding forth an offer of peace — an offer which the 
enemy, as yet, have shown no disposition to entertain. 
This is enough for me. I range myself on that side 
on which I see the standard of my country. Over 
the troops now in Mexico floats the same standard 
which was borne through the storms of the Revolu- 
tion ; it was often dimmed with the smoke of battle ; 
hostile bayonets bristled about it, and sometimes seem- 
ed to surround and overbear it ; but it emerged from 
that long and fierce conflict covered with the light of 
victory. Who is Avilling to see that banner giving 
back before the enemy, or trailing in the dust ? Who 
does not desire that it may be borne in trium2:»h on 
whatever breeze it may be flung ? I am sure that ev- 
ery gentleman here exults in its triumphs. 

The fleets which now blockade the j)orts and cruise 
along the coasts of Mexico bear the same glorious 
flag that streamed from the mast-head of the Consti- 
tution when she carried the thunder of our arms to 
distant seas, and spread dismay among the enemies 
of our rising commerce ; or, guarding the line of our 
own coast from the ravages of a formidable foe, rush- 
ed down triumphantly upon her prey. So long as 
that flag is flying, no matter vmder what sky, Amer- 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 89 

ican hearts Avill mourn over its reverses, and rejoice 
in its triumj)hs. 

The question before Congress is, "Shall we pros- 
ecute this war T On that question I can not hesitate 
for a moment. The Constitution has conferred on 
Congress the prerogative of declaring war. We have 
recognized the war, and by that vote Ave have made 
the chief magistrate responsible for the mode of con- 
ducting it. So long as the President is thus respons- 
ible, by the theory of our government he is charged 
with the conduct of the w^ar. He is invested with 
all the authority which belongs to that important 
station. It is for us to say how far w^e will go in 
voting supplies ; and it must be a great crisis — one 
such as I have never yet seen, and wdiich has never 
occurred in our history, Avhicli would warrant me in 
refusing to vote them. Other gentlemen must, of 
course, decide for themselves ; these are my convic- 
tions. I shall, therefore, while I should be happy to 
see this war brought to a speedy and honorable term- 
ination, continue to sustain the government in its 
prosecution till such terms of peace as we ought to 
acce^^t can be secured. I trust, too, that this will be 
the sentiment of the whole country. So far, the 
progress of the war has been marked by a self-sacri- 
ficing and patriotic spirit which illustrates our free 
institutions, and by victories as remarkable and brill- 
iant as any which history records. Whatever regrets 
may be felt at the interruption of the long career of 
peace which our country has enjoyed, we have at least 
gi'atifying proof that it has left no enervating influ- 
ence on the national character. 



90 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

But we must not lose sight of the objects of the 
war. Every war has its object. In our two contests 
with Great Britain we had gi'eat objects before us. 
The war of the Revolution was undertaken in defense 
of a great principle. The spirit of liberty revolted 
against taxation which was too light to be felt as a 
burden, but which was too great a violation of prin- 
ciple to be borne by men who were jealous of the en- 
croachments of 2:>ower. "They snuffed oppression 
in the tainted gale." They struck for freedom, and 
in the mighty struggle which ensued they had the 
sympathy of mankind. The contest undertaken for 
liberty ended in independence. In the later war with 
that power, the object was the immunity of our flag; 
we undertook to maintain that doctrine, so important 
to a free commercial state, that those who sailed in 
an American ship should look to the flag that floated 
over them for protection, and find in its sanctity se- 
curity against arrest by any power, upon any sea 
where it might be borne. 

What is the object of the present war ? The invi- 
olability of our soil, and redress for past wrongs. 
Whenever Mexico shall be disposed to yield these, 
we are bound to accept them. Till then, we ought 
not to hesitate a moment, not only to hold what we 
have obtained, but to make, if necessary to the attain- 
ment of these objects, still stronger demonstrations. 
Until the objects of the war are accomplished, we 
must prosecute these objects. But we owe it to our- 
selves, more even than to Mexico, to take care that 
these objects are not lost sight of in the heat of the 
contest. 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 91 

I trust we are not carrying on a war for aggi^and- 
izement ; if so, we should have selected some other 
adversary, and not have made the point of our lance 
rinp; against the shield of our weakest neio;hbor. 

Nor is it a war for the acquisition of territory. 
We do not wish to strip a feeble state of her posses- 
sions because we are stronger than she. But, until 
Mexico shall give some unequivocal sign that she is 
willing to grant us an honorable peace, the war must 
be continued, and ought to be prosecuted with the 
utmost vigor. I would not be understood by this to 
mean that I favor any particular plan for conducting 
the war ; I simply desire to say that such wise and 
energetic measures ought to be adopted as will save 
us from the evils of a protracted conflict. There is 
much wisdom in the advice of Polonius to Laertes : 

" Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in, 
Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee." 

If from the heavy clouds which overspread Mexico 
I could see the dove of peace coming to us, bearing 
but a single olive-leaf in her mouth, I would most 
gladly hail her aj)proach ; but in the absence of any 
such pacific sign, I hold that we are bound, as a na- 
tion, to prosecute the war. 

We ousht not to strike with a view to dismember 
the possessions of a Aveaker people, but our opera- 
tions ought to be characterized by unfaltering energy, 
and by such a putting forth of strength as shall teach 
those against whom they are directed that it is their 
interest to seek a speedy peace. I would accept the 
first sign of such a disposition on the part of Mexico, 



92 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

and, so far from degrading or crushing her, I would 
meet her with the most generous terms. They should 
be marked by the magnanimity of a great nation 
treating; with a AYeak one. 

Through this war, then, we desire to reach a peace. 
The President avows this to be the purpose of the 
government in carrying it on. This is well. It 
should be so conducted as to leave no room for doubt 
upon this point. It ought not to appear that while 
we profess to seek to tranquillize our frontier, to 
fix our boundary with a neighbor, and to redress 
acknowledged Avrongs, there is a deeper and con- 
cealed object. Are there any indications of a lust 
of dominion in this war ? Are there any features in 
the events which have occurred in its progress which 
may be misunderstood ? I am not, in a factious spir- 
it, about to inquire whether the President has tran- 
scended his authority. I have a loftier purpose. It 
is comparatively a small question how the adminis- 
tration has used the power intrusted to it, except as 
its acts affect the character of the country. 

I propose to inquire whether any thing has occur- 
red which exposes us to the charge of entertaining 
the purpose of wresting provinces from Mexico by 
strength, and holding them as permanent acquisitions 
against her consent. Any early instructions which 
look to this object, or any subsequent violations of 
the law of nations which go to show such a purpose 
on the part of the administration, must dishonor our 
national character and impair our strength. If this 
be the object of the war, then is it diverted from its 
true and legitimate purpose. For the time being. 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 93 

the President lias the conduct of the war vmder his 
charge. The question is, whether the instructions he 
has caused to be given, and the events of the Avar, 
disclose or not a purpose of conquest, and the perma- 
nent acquisition of territory ? 

I shall speak to this question in a spirit of fair- 
ness, as I have already said, with the view of inquir- 
ing whether the President has abused his functions, 
but in the hope of doing something toward arresting 
a tendency in our affairs which, if it is permitted to 
go on, must prove alike fatal to our national charac- 
ter and to our free institutions. 

Let us examine the instructions which those who 
were sent out to conduct this war took with them. 
I find among the paj^ers sent to us by the President, 
in answer to a resolution of this House, moved by 
the honorable gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis), 
a letter from the Secretary of War, addi'essed to Gen- 
eral Kearney, under date of June 3, 1846, and marked 
" confidential,'' from which I will read a sin<2:le insig;- 
nificant paragraph : 

"You may assure the people of those provinces 
that it is the wish and design of the United States 
to provide for them a free government with the least 
possible delay, similar to that which exists in our 
Territories. They Avill then be called on to exercise 
the rights of freemen in electing their own represent- 
atives to the Territorial Legislature. It is foreseen 
that what relates to the civil government will be a 
difficult and unpleasant part of your duty, and much 
must necessarily be left to your own discretion," 

How was this discretion employed ? In declaring 



Ill 



'INK WAlt VVri'll MKXKJO. 



(Iiiil. (lie coiKjiici-cd proviiiccH vvcro annexed to tlic 
UiiitcMl Sliiics, ill siihvcrlin^ tho oxistiiiff; civil ^ov- 
cniiiHiil, looking- cn idcnl ly to (Ik- |)(|iii;iii(IiI. iiiccn'- 
poratioii (»r (lie wlioli- (cirilory inlo (he A inciicjiii 
(•oirCcdn'ju'y. lie Ncciiicd (o <-<»m|)r<'ii('nd I lie lidl 
H('<>|)(' of (lie iiiciMiiii<j' of |||(. Sccrcliii'y of Wiir, lli:i(, 
llicy slididd lie |»|-()\ idcd willi ";i IVcc ^'(»\<i'iiiiicii(, 
willi (lie Iciisl |)<»s,sil»lc d('l:iy;" iiiid (crliiiidy no ;^<»v- 
cniiiKiil, WiiM over ()i-;i;ii,iii/('(l willi <i,i-(.jtic!i' oxjicdil i<m 
lliaii I hid wliicli lliis victoi'ioiis *^('ii('rii,i Hct up in New 
M('xi('(». I^Acii Ariel <l()in^' I lie hiddin^i; oC Pi'o.spcro 
hardly displ:i\cd more Hwill oltcdifiicc 

N(t( <»iily \\;is (liis IVcc ^ovcnimciil provided lor 
liie iiiliidiiliiiils ollliose rcniol.(! I'c^iodM, Ixil. Ilicy were; 
Mssiired, under iiisl riiciioiiH iVoiii flic Hiiiiie \\'n^\\ (piar- 
ter, lliiii llicy \\'(»nld soon ''be ciilled on lo exercise 
llie i'i;j,'lilH of Irccnien in electing I heir own represcnl;- 
ativcM lo the 'rerrilorinl ijcgishiturc." It is iinjios- 
mh\o to overlook Ihcsc; things, iuid they do seeni to 
disclose Ihc c.\istciu'(; of a scheme foi" tin; coiKpiest 
and (lie periiianeiit :i(t|nisil i(»n ol" territory at that 
early day. 

I shall now tnrn for a moment to the instructions 
iVoni the Navy I )cpartinent, and the operations inidcr 
them. 'The Secretary of I he Na-Vy, in a letter dated 
dniie K, |H|(!, and addressed to Commodore Sloat, 
writes : 

"In like manner, if ('alilornia separates herself 
froni oin- enemy, the (Viilral Mexican goveiMiment, 
and eslaldishes a. government of its own, niider llu; 
anspit'cs of the American Hag, you will lake sncli 
measures as will Itest promote the attachment ol" the 



'j'JiK wy,K WnJi MKXi(X). l'^5 

])(■'/ }]>\fi, of (/4i\]i'<)rn'iix, i/j t\i<'. t/uit/^d Stutxjs, m'j)J ad- 
vaij/x:; thi^'ir prosp^^r'ity, arjd wilJ rrj^kf; tJxat va^t i-^.- 
g]<;ri a d<^ifabi.o p];3ix>6 of rhnid<m<Ji ihr ci/jJgrarjtJi irom 
our ftoiL'*' 

How f;vlderjtly tJ^Ki ]><^n{iii[}<int o^^cupatlorj of th^t 
vas^t r<:;giofi, by fii/jjgrarjte fror/j our >>^;iJ, h(^iiJi>i t/j Uj 
('/)Hi/tm])hii/'A. 'J'hJH id<:^ in idr(if)^th<in<A by pur«u- 
jrjg tb.<? jijstruo-tjofjs gj vr>rj at a 8ub>j^'/ju^;rjt dat/;, July 
12, J 846, from th^:; ftarn<; i¥-^-j'<itiiry i/j t\i<i, w^imt ofUc/^j': 

''''Th<i o\)j<^:i fji'th<i fJrjitrjd HfM/tH hun ref<;r<;rjr/; tx> 
th<i uhmmt/i [A^afXi wjth Mmxic/) ; and if at tlmt p';a<:xi 
tl'K:; l^>a*jj« ofth<^. vii '/xjawJ/ctiH Hlmll f><; ^-ntitbJJhhxjd, th<; 
^()V<irnm<',nt o^xix^xita, through your f<jr<-/'.n, i/j U; found 
in a^:tual pos8^;«Hiori of ^j\)\>ttr CaJjfornJa/ 

The }nntni<:ti<mii i'rotn tb^i >jairi<:; d^^paz-tm^^nt, a/i- 
dre8W:/J t/> tli^:; h<ifiiOf' <>ifi<-Mr jfj </)!!iffiiifk<!l <jf th<i, ^ J muA 
Btat/:^ naval i'<)r<-/tH \n th<i iV;Jfic <^>^;^:^n, ]<>ok t^> the 
*>amc result. They are <iat^id A«iga>*t J ':itb^ an.d U> 
gin as follows : 

" <'>^MMOJX;KK, — 'J'he \'mt/A StaUiS U^jng in a stat/; 
of war by the n/fXion of Mexk/>, H h <ii-.h]r<A by the 
proHtK'Mtloii <jt' hx>8tjlitjes Uj laxniMn the return of 
p(;afX:;, and to H(K'Mr(i it on a/ivantag^^^us f/^nditjons. 
For this purpose, orders hiive b<:^^n given to the S'jixad- 
ron in the i-'a/:jfic t/,» take and k<^?^^p poss^:*sJon of L'p- 
jK^r C^lJfV^rnLa, es[X:!^;hilJy of the ports of Ban Fran- 
eiJj^^j, of Mont/^rey, and of Han I>i^^o ; and also, if 
opportunity oft'er, and the j>e^,»ple favor, to take pos- 
tittHHion^ by an inland exp^rsdition, of J-'uebla de los 
Ajjgelos, near Ban J^iego. 

"On r<iaf;hing the J^ax;ifte, your fi/^t duty will Ixi 
to as<:<irtain if these orders Itave U:5<:;n ojxirnA hii/j ef- 



96 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

feet ; if not, you will take immediate possession of 
Upper California, especially of the three ports of 
San Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego, so that if 
the treaty of peace shall be made on the basis of the 
uti possidetis^ it may leave California to the United 
States." 

Here is a full and unequivocal avowal of the wish 
of the government to have the operations against 
California so conducted^ that when a treaty of peace 
is made with Mexico, if the basis of the uti possidetis 
shall be established, we may be left in possession of 
that important and coveted territory. That this ba- 
sis would be urged by our government can hardly be 
doubted, for it would leave us in possession, not only 
of all our own territory, but of vast acquisitions from 
Mexico. Let us add to these instructions one more 
paragraph, hardly less significant than those already 
read, from a letter addressed by the Secretary of the 
Navy to Commodore Stockton, and I do not see how 
any one can resist the conclusion that, from the very 
commencement of these hostilities with Mexico, the 
permanent acquisition of vast territorial possessions 
was distinctly in the view of the administration. 

"You Avill therefore, under no circumstances, vol- 
untarily lower the flag of the United States, or relin- 
quish the actual possession of Upper California. Of 
other points of the Mexican territory which the forces 
under your command may occupy, you will maintain 
the possession or withdraw, as in your judgment may 
be most advantageous in prosecution of the war." 

But of California, the possession was not to be 
given up under any circumstances whatever. I do 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 97 

not undertake to say whether the acquisition of Cal- 
ifornia, or any other of the Mexican possessions, is 
desirable or not. I am inquiring into the purpose, 
on the part of the government, to hold these prov- 
inces as permanent conquests. I pass over the ex- 
traordinary proclamations published to the inhabit- 
ants of California from the sea and from the land ; 
the one professing to issue from the ' ' Commander- 
in-chief of the United States naval force in the Pa- 
cific Ocean, " and the other dated in the City of An- 
gels, from the " Commander-in-chief and Governor 
of the Territory of California," and am willing to rest 
the case upon papers emanating from those who hold 
a confidential relation to the executive. 

But, sir, whatever are to be the results of the war, 
it ought not to be carried on so as to violate the law 
of nations. That code is not to be disregarded ; it is 
sacred, and ought to be solemnly observed by us, and 
by all other nations. 

It is not a collection of abstract essays on public 
questions of right and wrong. This is a law which 
is never silent ; it speaks in the midst of arms. It 
is as diffusive as the air we breathe ; it spreads itself 
by a sort of omnipresence over land and sea. Taking- 
its rise in a sense of right, which even in early times 
was powerful enough to vindicate itself, it has gath- 
ered new strength with the advance of civilization, 
and it is attended in this age by sanctions which no 
people may disregard. Gustavus Adolphus, in all 
the wars wdiich he undertook for civil and reliirious 
liberty, carried the book of Grotius with him as his 
guide. We should be always ready to do this law 

G 



98 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

homage. It realizes Hooker s noble description of 
law in general : "Of law there can be no less acknowl- 
edged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her 
voice the harmony of the world ; all things in heav- 
en and earth do her homage ; the very least as feel- 
ing her care^ and the greatest as not exempt from her 
power." 

Now, what is the language of this law in regard 
to the rights which result from conquest? Yattel, 
who has been referred to more than once in the course 
of the remarks which have been made on this subject, 
says : 

"The conqueror Avho takes a town or province from 
his enemy can not justly acquire over it any other 
rights than such as belonged to the sovereign against 
whom he has taken up arms. "War authorizes him 
to possess himself of what belongs to his enemy ; if 
he deprives him of the sovereignty of that town or 
province, he acquires it, such as it is, with all its lim- 
itations and modifications. Accordingly, care is usu- 
ally taken to stipulate, both in particular stipulations 
and in treaties of peace, that the towns and countries 
ceded shall retain all their liberties, privileges, and im- 
munities.'''' 

This is the extent of the rights which the conquer- 
or acquires over possessions which the opposing sov- 
ereign held in subjection to his authority, but Avhicli 
did not fully belong to him ; and it is the same right 
which a successful invader acquires over cities or 
provinces which he overruns, but which are not re- 
garded as permanent acquisitions, "to be thencefor- 
ward united with the new state." 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 99 

"But if the conqueror thinks proper to retain the 
sovereignty of the conquered state, and has a right to 
retain it, the same principles must also determine the 
manner in which he is to treat that state. If it is 
against the sovereign alone that he has just cause of 
complaint, reason plainly evinces that he acquires no 
other rights by his conquest than such as belonged to 
the sovereign whom he has dispossessed ; and, on the 
submission of the people, he is bound to govern them 
according to the laivs of the state.'''' 

Now, sir, this defines precisely the extent of our 
rights over those Mexican states which are occupied 
by our armies. We have expelled the sovereignty of 
that nation from those territories, and have acquired 
it. We hold the supreme power there, and the peo- 
ple, having submitted to our arms, are "to be gov- 
erned according to the laws of the state." 

The argument made by the gentleman from Vir- 
ginia (Mr. Bayly) on this subject is an able one ; but 
he misapplies the law, which he very correctly lays 
down. He says, "We acquire the rights of the con- 
quered nation, whatever they are," and quotes from 
Wheaton in suj^port of his j^roposition. No one will 
question the authority or the law, which asserts that 
"the right of the state to its public property or do- 
main is absolute, and excludes that of its own sub- 
jects as well as other nations, " and which defines the 
national proprietary right in respect to those things 
belonging to private individuals or bodies corporate 
within its territorial limits as absolute, as far as it 
excludes other nations, and as orAy paramount in re- 
spect to members of the state. The other doctrine, 



100 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

too, which has been hiid down, tluit of the ^^uti pos- 
sidetis^'' yv'dl be as little questioned: 

"The existing state of possession is maintained, 
except so far as altered by the terms of treaty. If 
nothing be said about the conquered countries or 
pla-ces, they remain with the conqueror, and his title 
can not afterw^ard l)e cidh'd in ({uestion." 

But, sir, this law ai)plies to the rights acquired by 
the conqueror over the pro^^erty found in the con- 
quered territory, whether public or })rivate, and de- 
termines the results which would follow the conclu- 
sion of a treaty of peace under a certain state of facts. 
It docs not touch the question of political rights, im- 
munities, and privileges. The question is, when the 
concpiered sovereignty gives back before the advancing 
conqueror, and retires from the territory in dispute, 
to what does the conqueror succeed ? To the rights 
of the conquered sovereign ; that is, to the right of 
administering the government of the conquered ter- 
ritory Avhile lie holds it. But is the civil government 
to be subverted, and all existing internal laws to be 
displaced, and principles and forms A\diich the con- 
queror may happen to think good to be imposed ar- 
bitrarily upon the inhabitants of provinces tempo- 
rarily subjected to his power? 

This is the point to be regarded ; for, I repeat, the 
question as to property does not come up here ; it is 
a question of political right — a question of far high- 
er intei-est and importance. 

When the gentleman from Virginia comes to speak 
of our duties in respect to the coimtry noAv held by 
military occupation, he insists that "we are required 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 101 

to establish temporary civil governments, or, rather, 
''quasi'' civil governments — civil in their form and 
rules of proceeding, and military in their origin ; es- 
tablished to protect the rights of persons and prop- 
erty of the vanquished during the military occupancy 
of the country. The right, nay, the duty, to estab- 
lish such governments involves the right to determine 
upon its form. What it shall be is purely a matter 
of expediency and convenience. Upon principle, it 
would seem that it ought to be assimilated as near as 
possible to the forms of the conquering nation. As 
in all wars by land the acquisition of territory is look- 
ed to as probable, the sooner the people are intro- 
duced to tlio form of government under which they 
are in future to live, the better. And the vanquished 
have no right to complain, but rather to be grateful, 
when the form adopted is not worse than the one su- 
perseded. And even when it is worse, they must sub- 
mit to it as the fortune of war." 

I must dissent from all this. I can not admit that 
these principles apply to our rights over the Mexican 
territory now held by our arms. They apply to com- 
plete conquests and permanent acquisitions, not to 
such as are held in temporary possession merely. 

Vattel, in laying down the doctrine, expressly re- 
fers to a conquered town or province which has pass- 
ed "into the power of the conqueror. Thenceforward 
united with the new state to which it belon^As, if it 
be a loser by the change, that is a misfortune Avhich 
it must wholly impute to the fortune of war." When 
does the right thus to treat the conquered territory 
arise? When, in the language of the same writer, 



102 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

"by the treaty of peace, or the entire submission and 
extinction of the state to which those towns and prov- 
inces belonged, the acquisition is completed, and the 
property becomes stable and perfect." 

I readily admit, that if a conquered possession is to 
be permanently held and incorporated with the terri- 
tory of the conquering nation as its own, the con- 
queror has a right to extend his own laws over it ab- 
solutely, but not when the tenure is temporary only. 
In that case, the country must be governed by the 
subsisting laws. Those who so hold it are not to ex- 
pel the laws which existed there before it came into 
their possession. A gentleman from South Carolina 
(Mr. Holmes) promptly put this matter in its true 
light, and another gentleman from the same state 
(Mr. Woodward) has clearly and forcibly exhibited 
the law of nations upon the subject. 

It may well be remarked here, too, that it is not 
for the conquering general to say what shall be the 
form of government of the country which he has 
seized. He is bound to maintain his military occu- 
pation of it, but he can do no more. Nor can the 
President provide a civil government, for he merely 
holds the supreme command of the forces ; it is for 
this government, acting througli its several depart- 
ments, to establish laws over it. 

These principles are not contradicted by the decis- 
ion of the Supreme Court in the case of the United 
States vs. Rice, which has been referred to. The 
question involved there Avas one of property, as af- 
fected by a change of sovereignty, not a question of 
civil liberty or of jjolitical rights. The facts were 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 103 

these: Goods were imported into Castine in Septem- 
ber, 1814, during its occupation by the enemy, and 
remained there until its evacuation. Upon the re- 
establishment of the American government, were they 
subject to duties imposed by om' revenue laws? The 
Supreme Court declared they were not, upon the 
principle that the sovereignty of the United States 
over the territory in j^ossession of the British troops 
was suspended^ and the inhabitants passed under a 
temporary allegiance to the British government, and 
were under such laws as ih^y chose to recognize and 
enforce. 

The proclamation of General Harrison has been 
referred to, but there is a broad contrast between that 
document and the proclamation of General Kearney. 
I feel a profound interest in the memory of Harrison ; 
it is consecrated by good deeds, and has received the 
seal of death. A long life, marked at every step by 
purity in his personal relations, and by his respect for 
public law, was closed in the midst of the gratulations 
which greeted him from all parts of this great repub- 
lic on the occasion of the most astonishing political 
victory which the annals of this country can show. 

In referring to his proclamation, dated the 17th of 
October, 1812, we find no subversion of subsisting 
laws; no appointment of judges, attorney general, 
sheriffs, and a hundred other officers; no new and 
complex system of laws instituted. True, the com- 
missions of all magistrates were suspended, but their 
authority was still continued under that of the Unit- 
ed States. In taking possession of Upper Canada, 
he said to the inhabitants, 



104 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

"The district is iioW in tlic (juiet ])ossession of our 
troo])s; it becomes necessary to provide for its gov- 
iTimu'iit; therefore Ave hereby |)roclaiiii juid make 
known, that the riglits and privileges of the iidiabit- 
ants, and the hiws and customs of the country, as tliey 
existed or wci'c in force at tlie period of our arrival, 
shall contiinic to prevail." 

Had a course like this l)cen 2')in'sned, we should 
have been spared the present controversy. The spec- 
tacle would not liave been pi'csented to the world of 
our indecent haste to pi'ovide new forms of govern- 
nuMit the nionu'ut we had obtained possession of one 
of the ])rovinces of our enemy. 

I have thus, sir, endeavored to present tlu* real 
question, which is not Avdiether a mihk'r or hai'sher 
form* of government has been introduced by our army 
into the Mexican states which we liold in subjection, 
but whether the occupied provinces are regarded and 
treated as ]XTmanent conqu(»sts already annexed to 
this countr)'. it is not my object to cast any censure 
either on the President or his othcers; but the in- 
structions to which I have referred, and the disregard 
of obvious principles of international law, seem to 
disclose the pur})Ose of making this a war of con- 
quest. Indeed, some gentlemen upon this floor, 
friends too of tlie President, do not hesitate to uaow 
that it is such. Among other signilicant declarations 
on this subject, a gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Gordon) informed us sonu» days since that they in- 
tended "to keep what we have." Against this rising- 
lust ot' dominion, we ought at once to take a position 
and set up a standard. Tf it shouhl spread and 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 105 

gather strength, it will prove fatal to our free insti- 
tutions. Our very successes will ruin us. Cicero 
attributes the decline and fall of the Koman empire 
to the oblivion of the great principles which they had 
recognized in their earlier days and humbler fortunes. 
In the early extension of her power, she became, in 
his language, "the patroness rather than the mistress 
of the world." All this passed away with the tri- 
umphs of Sylla. Our government is one of consent; 
it rests so lightly upon its citizens that its weight is 
not felt. If we should becoTne en2;ao:ed in wars for 
the extension of our sway, overrunning neighboring 
states, and bringing into our confederacy a reluctant 
people, the whole character of our political system 
will be changed; it w^ill be converted into a political 
despotism, and we shall furnish another grand and 
instructive, but unhappy instance of the failure of in- 
stitutions intended to provide for the protection of 
human liberty. 

" Such is the moral of all earthly tales ; 
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past, 
First freedom, and then glory ; when that fails, 
Corruption, slavery, barbarism at last ; 
And history, with all her volumes vast, 
Hath but one page." 

I am not averse to the extension of the territory 
of the United States, nor do I feel on that subject the 
apprehensions which haunt the minds of some gen- 
tlemen. Such is the elasticity of oiu' federal system 
of government, that it may be extended over any 
space, great or small. It resembles the fabled tent 
in the Arabian Nights, which could cover with its 
folds few or many. Steam and the magnetic tele- 



106 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

graph overcome space, and bring together remote 
parts ; but if territory is to be acquired, let it be in a 
legitimate way, by purchase, or by the coming in of a 
neighboring people who have attained a high degree 
of civilization. If our institutions are to extend 
themselves, let it be by their own inherent and peace- 
ful power, not by the aggressive force of arms. Our 
national character and the purity of our political sys- 
tem are of far more consequence to us than any 
amount of territory which we can acquire. 

There are other topics to which I must now turn. 
The gentleman from the State of New York, to whom 
I have already referred (Mr. Gordon), informed the 
House that "the people of the United States meant 
to hold on to California; they meant to conquer it, 
alid make it a permanent acquisition. That was 
what they meant to do with it. The President nei- 
ther meant to do, nor had he the power to do, any 
thing as to the disposition of our conquests. Gen- 
tlemen might be very easy ; in due time, the American 
people would take proj)er care both of California and 
New Mexico. Of one thing they might be assured, 
those provinces would never return to Mexico again.*" 
This is exj)licit enough, and we ought to feel under 
obligations to the honorable gentleman, who is a 
member of the party in power, for an avowal so 
frank and unequivocal. Not content, however, with 
enlightening us as to the objects of the war, he pro- 
ceeds to inform us upon "another subject, and one 
of no trifling moment. The people of the United 
States — a vast majority of them, at least — were not 
only for the war, and for retaining this conquered ter- 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 107 

ritory as an indemnity for the robberies and spolia- 
tions of Mexico, but they meant to make it a free 

TERRITORY. " 

Such, then, is a bold declaration of the purpose to 
hold New Mexico and California as permanent ac- 
quisitions, to be incorporated with this confederacy, 
and to exclude slavery from the whole territory. 

In the same spirit, another gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Preston King) brought forward yesterday 
morning a measure which looked to the acquisition 
of territory from Mexico, and which provided for the 
total exclusion of slavery from it ; and to-day, taking 
advantage of the permission which the House grant- 
ed him to make a personal explanation, he has spoken 
at length upon this subject, insisting upon the perma- 
nent annexation of new territory, to be hereafter con- 
verted into FREE STATES. 

I regret the introduction of this subject. It is im- 
possible to overlook the danger which it brings with 
it. Gentlemen belonging to the party in power in- 
sist that this war shall be converted into a war of 
conquest ; that large and important states, stretching 
through several j^arallels of latitude, shall be torn 
from Mexico, and incorporated into our confederacy; 
that peace shall be made upon no other terms, no 
matter how ample the remuneration tendered for past 
wrongs may be ; and that the territory thus acquired 
shall be made to increase the ^preponderance of one 
section of the Union, by legislating here in advance 
as to the character of the population which shall 
overspread it. 

I take now the ground which I took before on the 



108 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

Oregon question. We have no right to say to the 
executive department of the government what shall 
be done in settling the terms of a treaty, and I there- 
fore consider it highly improper to introduce such 
projects here as have been referred to. 

The attempt to fix in advance, by a vote of this 
House, the terms of a treaty hereafter to be concluded 
with Mexico, is a solemn interference with the prov- 
ince and duties of another department of this govern- 
ment. That duty belongs to the treaty-making pow- 
er, which, by the Constitution, is vested in the Presi- 
dent and the Senate. It is for this House to discuss 
questions of a very diiFerent character. Each depart- 
ment of the government should be left to the undis- 
turbed exercise of its own functions. It is as unwise 
as it is unbecoming in us to leave the sphere of our 
legislative duties ; we shall find full employment in 
a faithful attention to them in the present state of 
our national affairs, without yielding to the prompt- 
ings of a discursive ^philanthropy, which can only in- 
jure where it seeks to guide. If this scheme of ac- 
quiring territory is persisted in, and the power of this 
government is to be brought to bear upon it so as to 
exclude slavery from every part of it, it must be seen, 
by all who have bestowed any reflection upon the 
history of the organization and progress of our polit- 
ical system, that the most serious, I may say disas- 
trous, results will follow. This Union can only stand 
on those compromises which I regard in their sacred 
obligation as second only to the Constitution. The 
compromise which has already taken place on the 
Missouri question was sufficiently disadvantageous to 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 109 

the South. The South does not interfere in the con- 
cerns of the North. A lofty feeling of brotherhood 
for the people of this whole country is cherished 
there. I, for one, rejoice in the splendid achieve- 
ments and unprecedented success of the industry and 
enterprise of New England as much as any man. I 
turn with pride to her revolutionary history. I ad- 
mire the genius which she sends to our national coun- 
cils. I survey with pleasure the vast resources and 
rapid growth of this whole country. Why is it, then, 
that no opportunity is lost to proscribe the South, to 
subject our internal policy to censure, and to direct 
against our institutions the sentiment of mankind, 
both at home and abroad? Gentlemen have tran- 
scended the rules which should govern them here ; 
if they j)roceed, they will rend the bonds of this Union 
as Samson burst the withes that bound him. 

Is this the doctrine to be acted on, that territory 
must be acquired, and, wherever acquired, free labor 
may be suffered to go there, but the men of the South 
must not take their slaves with them there ? 

When this great question was agitated in 1820, a 
Northern man, Mr. Holmes, of Maine, said that to 
regulate slavery was the attribute of sovereign power. 
He used this lano;ua2;e : 

"To regulate the relation between different mem- 
bers of a community, or to establish or prohibit slav- 
ery, is an attribute of sovereign power. '"' '"'' ■"•' "' 
The gentleman from New York has told us that a 
slave representation beyond the original states is un 
equal, and contrary to the spirit of the compact. I 
know not where the gentleman derived his authority ; 



110 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

surely not from the Constitution. It is there argued 
that the representation shall be apportioned accord- 
ing to the number of free persons and three fifths of 
the slaves, not in such states as then existed, but ' in 
such as may be included within the Union.'' This 
language is explicit and positive." 

Mr. Macon, of North Carolina, took part in the 
same debate — that which grew out of the Missouri 
question. That good and great man, at once calm 
and wise, was distinguished for a patriotism which 
was comprehensive enough to embrace his whole 
country. He said, 

"The gentleman from New Hampshire has said 
that the Constitution was a compromise as to slaves. 
This is no doubt true, but not a compromise to 
emancipate. The states that held them could free 
them, as others had done, without asking or consult- 
ing the convention or Congress. But it was a com- 
promise as to representation, and nothing else." 

This is the language of truth and justice. But we 
are told now that the North Avill hold the conquered 
Mexican provinces, but that neither I, nor any South- 
ern man, nor our children, nor our children"'s children, 
shall set a foot within them unless we consent to 
abandon our property. This is not a place to dis- 
cuss the question of slavery. It is a subject that 
should never be named in this hall. It is an insti- 
tution which belongs to the Southern States, and gen- 
tlemen do those states great wrong to press them or 
that subject here. 

The Missouri Compromise did them much injustice. 
Suppose the South should select a particular institu- 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. Ill 

tion existing in the Northern States, or a particular 
feature in Northern society — the labor of operatives 
in factories, for instance — and undertake to denounce 
it and overthrow it, how would it be regarded? 
What would they think and say of such a proceed- 
ing ? Why, then, is this course pursued toward the 
South ? 

The slave population must have a representation 
somewhere. By the compromise of the Constitution, 
the slave states are deprived of a portion of their po- 
litical importance. What, then, is to be gained by 
limiting slavery to the precise extent which it now 
occupies? Will it ameliorate the condition of the 
slave ? Would their introduction into new territory 
increase their number ? The object is clearly a polit- 
ical one, thinly disguised by an assumed philanthroi^y. 
Suppose you could even succeed, by keeping the sla- 
very within its present limits, in bringing about its 
abolition, would not the political importance of these 
people be increased by rising from a three fifth to a 
full representation ? 

If there are other states to be formed at our side, 
under the same burning sun, and covering the same 
fertile plains, will they not have common interests, 
and ought they not to have common institutions and 
common sympathies ? Why is every occasion seized 
on to bring this unprofitable and dangerous question 
into the field of controversy ? I ask, in the name of 
the Constitution, and of the men who formed our in- 
stitutions as they exist, that this subject shall not be 
made here a theme for angry disputation. Let not 
gentlemen disturb the regular course of business in 



112 T1£E WAIt WJTli MEXICO. 

this body hy rising in their places, and meeting us 
with projects and speeches such as those to which we 
have listened. It'tliis is to be done, this government 
will become unequal, and its days will be numbered. 
The spirit still lingers in the South which produced 
our Revolution — a spirit which will contend for po- 
litical rights to the very last. The people of those 
states love this Union ; they glory in the past, and 
hope for the future. They will cling to the pillars 
of the Constitution as long as they can ; they will 
listen to the parting words of Washington, still vi- 
brating in their ears, as long as endurance is possible; 
but, Av hen they fujd that they are to be down-trodden, 
tliey Avill ])(! (constrained, though it be with deep grief j 
to give up an alliance which is to be marlvcd only by 
wrongs and oppressions, and gather about their homes 
and their property. 

Sir, I trust that hour Avill never come. The spir- 
it which has tliis day been manifested by the member 
fi-om New York ought to be rebuked, and the blame 
for the introduction oi" tiiis subject ought not to be 
thrown IVom liini uj)oii the gentleman from Tennes- 
see (Mr. Gentry), who spoke of it only because he had 
the sagacity to see the ((uestion coming. It is time 
to meet it. If it is provided tiiat the states on this 
side the Mississippi shall be equally balanced in re- 
spect to slavery, why should not the same balance be 
permitted to exist on the othei* side ? 

As to the acquisition of Mexican territory, it is a 
question which belongs to the treaty-making power. 
We siiould not now discuss it. But, as it has been 
thrust upon our attention, I have felt it my duty, as 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 113 

a Southern man, to express my own views. If ter- 
ritory is to be acquired, let it be subjected to compro- 
mises which have been already formed. I do not 
w^ish for any violation of the Missom-i Compromise. 
Let it stand in letter and spirit. Let the line upon 
which it runs be extended to the Pacific Ocean. 

I hope to see that worst of all party spirit the spir- 
it of geographical party, forever banished fi'om this 
hall. If kept alive here, it will lead to the fiercest 
collision which has ever been witnessed in this coun- 
try. 

When it becomes dominant and the rights of the 
North are exalted above those of the South — when 
fraternal aftection is lost in a struggle for partv as- 
cendency — when patriotism dwindles down into a nar- 
row regard for a mere section of oiu* coimtrv, then 
will this government erected by om' fathers for the 
protection of hmnan libeity, and which has awaken- 
ed throughout the world the noblest hopes, totter to 
its fall. 

H 



KELIEF FOU IRELAND. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, MARCH 3d, 1847. 

I EARNESTLY desire, Mr. Speaker, the passage of this 
bill. It makes no appropriation of money, but it 
authorizes the employment of two of our ships, the 
Jamestown and the Macedonian, to bear the contribu- 
tions of individual benevolence to the starving j)eo- 
ple of Ireland. No object can be nobler than this. 
Never has a stronger appeal been made to the sym- 
pathies of a people than that which Ireland in her 
destitution makes to ours, and I trust that the House 
will not hesitate to respond to it promptly, generous- 
ly, nobly. Here is an opportunity to demonstrate 
that, as a Christian nation, we feel the full elevation 
and unselfishness of the divine sentiment, "It is more 
blessed to give than to receive." 

Let us promptly grant to the Secretary of the Navy 
the authority which this bill asks for, that the grace- 
ful assent of the government may be given to a no- 
ble act of individual munificence. Such oj^portuni- 
ties do not often present themselves to nations, and 
they are too precious to be lost. 

There would be, as the honorable gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Winthrop) has remarked, a beau- 
tiful coincidence in the name of one of the vessels to 
be employed in this greai, errand of charity. The 
Jamestown at once calls up the most interesting asso- 



RELIEF FOR IRELAND. 115 

ciations connected with our own early history ; we 
look back to that feeble settlement on the shores of 
Virginia, when the colonists, far from the mother- 
country, and surrounded by a savage and fierce race, 
were straitened for the means of subsistence, and 
when they awaited long and anxiously the arrival of 
a ship from England as their only relief from im- 
pending famine. . ■ 

But, sir, it seems to me that the coincidence be- 
tween the name of the other vessel and the service 
to which it is destined would be equally striking and 
happy: the Macedonian reminds us of that Macedo- 
nian cry which reached the ear of the great apostle 
in the midst of his extended field of labor, which 
knew no limits but the boundaries of the peopled 
world — "Come over and help us." 

I trust that no impediments will be thrown in the 
Way of such an enterprise as this. Let the world 
behold the spectacle of the youngest among the na- 
tions ministering to the sufferings and the wants of 
one of the oldest. Tliere is a moral power in such 
examples which can not be lost upon mankind. The 
proudest triumphs of war — the grandest displays of 
a nation's power in mustering invincible armies and 
sending out mighty fleets — all the glory ever won 
upon the world's most renowned battle-fields — all the 
achievements of the greatest captains in ancient or 
modern times — all such glory as this must pale be- 
fore such an act of national sympathy and benevo- 
lence as the world will witness when the American 
ships, freighted Avith food for a starving people sep- 
arated from us by the breadth of the Atlantic, shall 



116 RELIEF FOR IRELAND. 

drop their anchors in the waters which wash the 
coast of Ireland. To nothing in all our annals Avill 
the philanthropist turn with higher satisfaction, when 
he searches the pages which record our national prog- 
ress and glory, than to the passage of this bill by the 
Congress of the United States. 

I confess, sir, that there is something in the con- 
dition of Ireland, and in the character of the Irish 
people, which profoundly interests me. Her wrongs 
— ^the heroic spirit of her people — the genius and the 
eloquence of her sons — the spectacle of the bravest 
and the most generous of them dying on the scaf- 
fold, or sent into exile — all this interests and binds 
me. 

In all the battles which have decided the fate of 
Europe in our time, and which have given the Brit- 
ish empire the first place among the great powers 
of the world, Irish valor has turned the fortunes of 
the day, and Irish blood has been spilled with gen- 
erous profusion and uncalculating ardor. Yet to- 
day her people are under the ban of the government 
which they have upheld ; the fertile soil of Ireland, 
teeming with abundance, is made to support for- 
eign landlords — absentees, who squander abroad the 
wealth which Ireland yields, and the cry of famish- 
ing thousands comes sounding across the waters into 
our ears. 

Sir, we can not be deaf to that cry. Let us send 
our national ships to her shores ; let the flag of the 
United States, as it floats in the breezes which fan 
the Irish coast, be hailed by that people as the en- 
sign of hope and deliverance ; and let the heart of 



RELIEF FOR IRELAND. 117 

Ireland receive the assurance that in America there 
is a sjnmpathy with suffering ever ready to minister 
to and to relieve the destitution of a brave and gen- 
erous nation. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, DECEMBER ISth, 1847. 

Mr. Milliard undertook to move the postponement to a day certain, and then 
proceeded as follows : 

Mr. Speaker, — It so happens that I am the only 
member of the Board of Kegents of the Smithsonian 
Institution now entitled to a seat on this floor. It 
is important to secure the good-Avill of the country 
in behalf of an enterprise so elevated — one might say, 
so sublime. 

There exists some misconception in regard to the 
institution, and idle rumors are afloat which may 
afifect it injuriously. Scientific establislmients are 
not to go out and court popularity, but they must 
not be indifierent to j)ublic sentiment. Before en- 
tering upon the stormy and engi'ossing debates in 
which we shall presently be engaged, I desire, by a 
simple statement of facts, to give the House a view 
of the history, condition, and plans of an institution 
which so strongly appeals to us for protection, 

Mr. Smithson's bequest was a noble one. He gave 
his whole property to found, at the City of Washing- 
ton, "an establishment for the increase and difliision 
of knowledge among men." America was selected 
as the field for so wide and beneficent a design. 
Young, vigorous, rapidly increasing in numbers, this 
country aflbrded the best ground upon wTiich to rest 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 119 

an establishment which was designed to enlighten 
mankind. 

Entering into the spirit of this bequest, Congress 
passed an act making the most liberal provision for 
carrying it into practical effect. The whole sum, 
with its accumulated interest, was turned over to the 
establishment created by the act, composed of the 
President and Vice-president of the United States, 
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the 
Postmaster General, the Attorney General, the chief 
justice, and the Commissioner of the Patent Office 
of the United States, and the Mayor of the City of 
Washington, during the time for which they shall 
hold their respective offices, and such other persons 
as they may elect honorary members. The sum 
amounted to five hundred and fifteen thousand, one 
hundred and sixty-nine dollars, and a further sum of 
two hundred and forty-two thousand, one hundred 
and twenty-nine dollars, being the accumulated inter- 
est upon that sum since it came into possession of 
the government. The principal sum was forever to 
remain untouched ; the interest was appropriated to 
the erection of the building and incidental expenses. 
The building to be erected was to meet the provi- 
sions of the act, which required it to contain suitable 
rooms or halls for the reception and arrangement, 
upon a liberal scale, of objects of natural history, in- 
cluding a geological and mineralogical cabinet ; also 
a chemical laboratory, a library, a gallery of art, and 
the necessary lecture-rooms. Another section j)ro- 
vides that, in proportion as suitable arrangements 



120 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

can be made for their reception, all objects of art, 
and of foreign and curious research, and all objects 
of natural history, plants, and geological and niiner- 
alogical specimens, belonging or hereafter to belong 
to the United States, which may be in the City of 
Washington, shall be delivered to the care of the in- 
stitution, and so classed and arranged as best to fa- 
cilitate the examination and study of them in the 
building to be erected. This at once empties the 
great hall of the Patent Office, three hundred and fif- 
ty feet long, of its contents. It must be at once seen 
that the Smithsonian building ought, if it is to ac- 
commodate these great and various objects, to be of 
ample dimensions. This building, too, was to be 
erected without delay. The site was to be selected 
'■'- fortlnvitJ^'' "and so soon^'' as that was done, the 
Board was to proceed with the erection of the build- 
ing. 

The Board of Regents faithfully studied the will 
of Mr. Smithson and the law creating the establish- 
ment. 

Two things were to be accomplished. First, to in- 
crease knowledge by original research ; and then, sec- 
ond, to diffuse it by suitable and efficient agencies ; 
or, in the language of the venerable and distinguished 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Adams), "to 
spread knowledge throughout the world." 

The task devolved by Congress on the Regents was 
no light one. They were called on to organize and 
set on foot this establishment, so beneficent in its 
conception, so comprehensive in its design. The act 
of Congress prescribed certain parts of the plan, and 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 121 

left the other parts to be devised by the Board of 
Regents. That part of the plan which was em- 
braced in the act of Congress had almost exclusive 
reference to the diffusion of knowledge. The means 
which provide for the increase have been supplied by 
the Regents. 

We have been charged with being wildly extrava- 
gant, laying out large sums in purchasing old books. 
A story has been circulated that we paid $2500 for 
an old and rare copy of the Bible. Now, sir, no man 
loves the Bible more than I do, but I could not have 
consented to an expenditure of that sort. I dare say 
no one member of the Board ever dreamed of such 
an expenditure. 

Again, some have charged us with being too utili- 
tarian, confining our operations to an improvement 
of the physical condition of mankind. We have cer- 
tainly endeavored, in our plan of organization, to 
provide for the entire wants of mankind, and to meet 
the spirit of the age. We have brought into our 
service a gentleman who stands in the front rank of 
the science of the country — I mean Professor Henry, 
formerly of Princeton. His name is well known in 
Europe, and is associated with that of Faraday, and 
Arago, and Quetelet. I have before me the plan of 
organization adopted for the operations of the insti- 
tution, to which I desire to call the attention of the 
House, but which (as Marc Antony said, on a much 
more important occasion, about the will of Caesar), 
pardon me, I do not intend to read. I wish every 
gentleman in the House would read it, for it would 
receive on all sides a warm and generous support. 



122 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

I desire to submit a few remarks in regard to our 
building. We were authorized by Congress to ex- 
pend $240,000 in its erection; but, in view of the 
wide field of knowledge to be cultivated, the Regents 
resolved to save a part of this sum and add it to the 
principal. Keeping in view the great interests to be 
provided for, it was resolved to erect a building of 
proportions sufficiently ample to meet the require- 
ments of the act of Congress, and of a style which 
should not offend the eye. This has been effected ; a 
contract has been entered into, and a plan of expend- 
iture agreed upon, which, while the building is grad- 
ually constructed, will carry out the plan to full com- 
pletion, and at the end of five years from the time 
of its commencement. So far from having expended 
the sum appropriated by Congress for the purpose, 
we shall have, after erecting the structure, providing 
for its warming and ventilation, and the inclosure of 
the grounds, $140,000 to return to the principal sum. 
In the mean while, we are carrying on the operations 
of the institution, stimulating original researches, 
publishing contributions to science, and gradually in- 
creasing our library. At the same time, we pay our 
debts as we go on. This is, of course, accomplished 
by using the interest on the $240,000 for the build- 
ing, and the annually accruing interest on the prin- 
cipal fund for meeting the regular expenses of the 
institution. 

The transactions of the present year are highly in- 
teresting, and will soon be published in a volume, 
which will compare well Avith similar publications in 
Europe. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 123 

With the building, so far as it has gone, all paid 
for, and every debt discharged, we shall have at the 
end of the year $10,000 more than we received from 
Congress. 

Is there any necessity for a standing committee of 
this House? How is the Board of Regents com- 
posed ? The act of Congress declares that it shall 
be constituted of the Vice-president of the United 
States, the chief justice of the United States, the 
Mayor of the City of Washington, three members of 
the Senate, three members of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, together with six other persons not mem- 
bers of Congress. Each house of Congress, it will 
be perceived, has three members of the Board of Re- 
gents ; and it is required by law that the Board shall 
submit to Congress at each session a report of the 
operations, expenditures, and condition of the institu- 
tion. 

At the last session I presented a full report, ac- 
cording to law, which I now have before me ; it was 
printed and circulated. Another report is about to 
be presented, embracing the report of the building 
committee, a paper containing some three hundred 
pages, full of useful information, which I should be 
happy to see printed. Is it, then, necessary to ap- 
point a committee ? Is it proper ? Is it becoming ? 
A committee of this House aj^pointed "to superin- 
tend the affairs of the Smithsonian Institution!" 
This committee will bring under its supervision the 
Vice-president of the United States, the chief justice, 
three senators, three representatives, and six citizens 
at large, selected because of their character and at- 



124 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

tainments. May I most respectfully ask, Who will 
superintend the affairs of that committee of five? 
Where is the necessity for thus complicating the ma- 
chinery of an institution which ought to be left to 
enjoy the repose which science loves ? 

I hope, sir, that this institution, so important to 
this country and to mankind, will not be launched on 
the ever-heaving sea of politics. If that should hap- 
pen, we should soon lose sight of land ; storms and 
shipwreck would await us, and the hopes which 
croAvned our noble enterprise in its commencement 
would perish with us. 

I thank the House for the attention with which 
they have heard these remarks ; it evinces the inter- 
est which they feel in an institution which claims 
their protection. 



Mr. Hilliard concluded by moving to lay the pro- 
posed rule on the table. 



THE MISSION TO EOME. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, MARCH 4th, 1848. 

Mr. Chairman, — I regret, sir, that the opportunity 
has not been afforded me of replying to the speech of 
my honorable friend from Pennsylvania (Mr. Levin) 
before the present time. The committee are now just 
about to vote on the appropriation Avhich provides 
the means of opening diplomatic intercourse with the 
Papal States. The speech was remarkable for the 
beauty of its language, and the elevated tone of many 
of its sentiments ; but it lacked one great quality — 
liberality. There was about it nothing of toleration. 
It disclosed none of the spirit of the beautiful senti- 
ment of St. Augustine : ' ' Let there be charity in all 
things." I can not, of course, within the few minutes 
allowed me, attempt an elaborate reply to the speech 
of the honorable gentleman, but I shall seek an ear- 
ly occasion to do so, when I hope to be able to show 
that there is much in the present condition of Italy to 
awaken the hopes of all men who watch with interest 
the progress of reform throughout the world. In the 
mean while, let us not, in our impatience, forget that 
there is a mighty difference between reform and rev- 
olution. A reformation is brought about by the 
steady but gradual march of truth, while a revolu- 
tion, like the earthquake, too often upheaves only to 
overthrow and crush. 



126 THE MISSION TO ROME. 

That a reform is begun in Italy no man can doubt 
who will take the trouble to compare the present po- 
litical state of that country with that which it exhib- 
ited previous to the accession of the present pontiif. 
The spirit of reform is thoroughly roused in that beau- 
tiful and classic land. It can never be put down. 
While a representative of the freest government on 
earth may be well employed in observing the progress 
of liberal principles in that interesting and important 
part of Europe, and may, at the same time, aid in 
diffusing a better knowledge of our political system, 
I can not discover that we can suffer any injury from 
such an intercourse. 

In my judgment, sir, neither Christianity nor free 
principles have any thing to fear from a conflict Avith 
opposing powers. I would send a minister to the Pa- 
pal States as I would to any other power ; I would 
encourage every reform in the government ; I would 
cheer the friends of freedom in all Europe, by sending 
a minister from the United States of America, where 
the noblest toleration is granted to all opinions, to re- 
side at a court where hitherto the policy has been to 
crush all freedom of thought and action. It Avould 
be a spectacle of high moral interest to see such a rep- 
resentative from republican America taking his post 
amid the ruined temples and arches of a country 
where, in other days, republican Home exhibited to 
the world its colossal proportions. 

Sir, I do not mistake the Pope for a Pepublican; 
far from it; but I recognize him as a reformer. I 
desire to send to all the states named in this bill 
ministers resident in the place of charges des affaires. 



THE MISSION TO ROME. 127 

They would be accredited to the sovereign, while 
charges des affaires would be accredited to the Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs. 

My honorable friend and myself do not differ in 
our horror of an intolerant and dangerous religious 
system, but we do differ in our views of the true pol- 
icy to be pursued toward the papal power. We both 
desire to sustain the Bible, and to vindicate Protest- 
ant Christianity. I need not say that I am no par- 
tisan of the Pope; on the contrary, there breathes not 
a man whose sympathy with the Protestant cause 
beats stronger or quicker than my own. I can never 
forget its battles nor its victories, its persecutions nor 
its triumphs. But, sir, I solemnly believe that toler- 
ation is the tvisest as well as noblest policy. 

The gentleman has been so indiscreet as to men- 
tion the nineteenth centur}^ Sir, there has been a 
time when such an argument as we have heard to-day 
would have been appropriate. It was that dark pe- 
riod when the dungeon, the Inquisition, and the stake 
claimed as victims all who were convicted of heresy 
by a tribunal usurping the authority of God. But 
in this nineteenth century I am surprised to hear 
such views in an American Congress, from a gentle- 
Inan so enlightened as my friend from Pennsylvania. 

He asks, Wliat reforms has the Pope granted? I 
answer, that he has expelled from power a Secretary 
of State distinguished for his despotic and harsh 
opinions, and put in his place a man of liberal views; 
he has thrown wide a door for the admission of his 
people, Avithout respect to rank, who may come with 
petitions to him; he has caused a box to be placed 



128 THE MISSION TO ROME. 

in the Vatican, where all who desire to submit their 
complaints to his own eye may deposit a statement 
of their wrongs ; he has assembled a council to ad- 
vise him as to the wants of his people; and if he had 
done nothing more than to transfer his alliance from 
Metternich to Louis Philippe, I should hail that as 
a great step in the progress of reform. 

Bely upon it, sir, the spirit of reform is waked up 
in Italy. It will "not down at the bidding" of 
armed and imperious Austria, or any other human 
power. I would send a minister from this republic 
to cheer it, to observe it, to report its progress. That 
spirit will, I trust, yet rekindle the fires upon the ru- 
ined altars of freedom throughout Italy. 

Our true policy is to extend our peaceful relations 
with the world. We have nothing to fear from an 
intercourse of that kind with other powers. Truth 
is clad in more than triple steel, and I would bid her 
spread her standard in the very midst of the world, 
and take her station in front of the Vatican. By 
keeping the Papal See isolated, you strengthen it. 
It carries on its agencies in secret. Bring it upon 
the open field; do not shun it; bring it into open in- 
tercourse with a free Protestant nation, and civil and 
religious liberty will achieve new triumphs. 



A GOVEKNMENT FOR OREGON— POLICY 
OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 

UNITED STATES, MARCH 30tli, 1848. 

The House being in Committee of the Whole, and having under considera- 
tion the bill to establish a Territorial Government in Oregon, Mr. Milliard said, 

In rising to address the committee, I do not pro- 
pose to discuss tlie provisions of the bill now before 
,7011, but there are some topics which stand connect- 
ed with the general subject upon which I desire to 
give my views. The bill j^rovides for the organi- 
zation of a territorial government for the peoj^le of 
Oregon. It is understood that negotiations are now 
pending with Mexico which will jjrobably result in 
the extension of our territorial jDOssessions. We shall 
soon be called on to provide a government for the 
people of New Mexico and of Upper California. I 
am not anxious to engage in a premature discus- 
sion of topics which must come up when that legis- 
lation is entered upon. I hope that the wisdom and 
moderation which have been displayed heretofore, in 
dealing with gi'eat questions affecting the interests 
of the people of this country, will characterize the 
legislation of Congress when that measure comes up 
for consideration, and that the political rights of the 
South will be regarded. They must be ; the South 
will aim at no exclusive advantages, nor will it sub- 
mit to unjust and humiliating restrictions. The gen- 

I 



130 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

tleman who last addressed the committee on this 
question (Mr. Smart, of Maine) stated that the war in 
which we have been engaged with Mexico was not 
undertaken for the acquisition of territory, but to quiet 
the title to Texas. 

My honorable friend from Georgia, too (Mr. Cobb), 
some time since endeavored to make it appear that it 
was impossible to condemn the act of the President 
in ordering the advance of the army upon the Rio 
Grande, without condemning the previous act of the 
government in annexing Texas to the United States, 
and, at the same time, including in our censure the 
act of Congress Avliich voted the supplies necessary 
to carry on the war with Mexico. An honorable 
gentleman from South Carolina, for whose opinions 
I entertain a high respect (Mr. Bhett), has entered 
into an elaborate vindication of the policy of the ad- 
ministration, in which he declares that the President 
was exerting his constitutional functions in ordering 
the army to the Pio Grande. Noav, sir, I wholly dis- 
sent from all these views ; and I shall, as rapidly as 
possible, state my objections to the course of the Pres- 
ident and the policy of his administration in regard 
to the Mexican question. The time has arrived when 
we may be permitted to survey the gi'ound over which 
Ave have passed since the opening of the war with 
Mexico. Hostilities are suspended ; peace is at hand 
— a peace which is, I trust, to prove a firm and last- 
ing one between the two countries. It is not my pur- 
pose to enter into an elaborate investigation of the 
causes which gave rise to the war ; that ground has 
been fully explored, and I should hardly hope to 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 131 

come back with a single discovery. I desire, howev- 
er, to hold the administration up to its responsibility. 
A war may be provoked by causes which would fully 
justify it, and yet be precipitated by an unconstitu- 
tional act. The President, in ordering the army to a 
position on the Kio Grande, clearly usurped powers 
not conferred on liim by the Constitution. Texas 
was annexed to this country by a resolution which 
left the western boundary of that state open, and pro- 
vided that it should be ascertained and fixed by ne- 
gotiation. * 

If the President had become convinced that Mex- 
ico would decline that mode of adjustment, and had 
satisfied Congress that a resort must be had to arms, 
we should have been at liberty to claim the Kio Bra- 
vo as the western boundary of Texas, and to direct 
the President to throAv in a military force for its de- 
fense. But, in the absence of such a declaration on 
the part of Congress, the order of the President to 
General Taylor to take up his position on the banks 
of that stream was a gross, j)alpable, violent usurpa- 
tion of authority. No array of grievances committed 
by Mexico against this country Avill justify that or- 
der ; no circumstances which existed could vindicate 
that act of the President, while they may justify the 
act of Congi'ess, and vindicate its recognition of this 
war. I do not deny that there was ample gTound 
upon which to rest a declaration of war against Mex- 
ico. I am not disposed to deny that there were hos- 
tile threats and warlike preparations on the part of 
that republic ; but I do deny that the President had 
any constitutional authority whatever to decide the 



132 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

question of peace or war. That was a question for 
the decision of Congress ; the Constitution lodged 
there the authority to pass upon so momentous an 
issue ; and the act of the President, in deciding that 
the western boundary of Texas must be settled by 
arms, and not by negotiation, stands out as a bold 
usurpation of power which no circumstances can just- 
ify or excuse. 

Still, this is purely a domestic question, and can 
not affect our relations with Mexico. It was an ill- 
advised step, invited attack, and led to hostilities. 
Congress thought proper to recognize these hostilities 
as acts of war ; and I felt at liberty to vote the sup- 
plies necessary to carry on the war thus brought on, 
though I condemned the course of the President. I 
am not, however, ready at this time to vote for rais- 
ins: the ten additional reo;iments which the President 
asks for. I am amazed that gentlemen should press 
the bill at a moment like this. Has there not been 
enough of war — enough of its pomp and circumstance 
— enough of its expense? With a good prospect for 
peace, must the country be again plunged, by reck- 
less obedience to the demands of the President, ibto 
this wasteful expenditm^e? Some gentlemen, too, 
seem uneasy at voting against taking the bill up out 
of its order. The time has gone by for such appre- 
hensions ; the war has become odious to the peo^^le ; 
the country desires peace. The President has gone 
down in the contest ; and, though he still rides along 
the lines, and strives to animate his followers to new 
struggles, he has none of the energy and power of 
manhood left him. 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 133 

" The times have been, 
That when the brains were out the man would die, 
And there an end ; but now they rise again, 
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, 
And push us from our stools." 

What induced the President to seize this power 
which did not belong to him ? Was there danger of 
invasion? No. There were no settlements along 
the country bordering on the Rio Bravo to defend. 
So far as any thing American was concerned, it was 
as destitute of life as the Carnatic after the descent 
of Hyder Ali, as described by Burke in his celebrated 
speech on the Nabob of Arcot's debts. 

You might traverse the whole region and not see 
one man, not one woman, not one child, not one four- 
footed beast of any descrij^tion whatever. Yet the 
friends of the President seek to justify his rash order 
for the advance of the army by persuading us that it 
was determined on under the apprehension of threat- 
ened invasion. There must have been some other 
consideration — some ulterior, undisclosed object which 
the President had in view. 

By referring to the correspondence which took 
place between the Secretary of War and General 
Taylor, it will be perceived that, as early as the 15th 
of June, 1845, Mr. Bancroft, while in tem2)orary 
charge of the War Department, wrote to the com- 
manding general in terms which would have author- 
ized him at that time to pitch his tents on the banks 
of the Rio Bravo. 

On the 30th of the succeeding month the Secretary 
of War wrote to him in similar terms : 

"The Pio Grande is claimed to be the boundary 



134 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

between the two countries, and up to tliis boundary 
you are to extend your protection, only excepting 
any posts on the eastern side thereof which are in the 
actual occupancy of Mexican forces or Mexican set- 
tlements, over which the Kepublic of Texas did not 
exercise jurisdiction at the period of annexation, or 
shortly before that event. It is expected that, in se- 
lecting the establishment for your troops, you will 
approach as near the boundary line, the Rio Grande, 
as prudence will dictate." 

On the 16th of October following, the Secretary of 
War ao-ain writes to this officer : 

"Tlie information which we have received here 
renders it probable that no serious attempts will at 
present be made by Mexico to invade Texas, although 
shfe continues to threaten incursions. Previous in- 
structions will have put you in possession of the 
views of the government of the United States, not 
only as to the extent of its territorial claims, but of 
its determination to assert them. '•' * ''' You will 
approach as near the western boundary of Texas (the 
Rio Grande) as circumstances will permit, having 
reference to reasonable security, to accommodations 
for putting your troops into winter huts, if deemed 
necessary, to the facility and certainty of procuring 
or receiving supplies, and to checking any attempted 
incursions by the Mexican forces on the Indian tribes. " 

Here, then, the Secretary of War, at a time when 
there was no serious apj)rehension of an invasion of 
Texas by a Mexican force, directs General Taylor to 
approach as near the Rio Grande as circumstances 
loill permit. He is informed in the same letter that 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 135 

he need not wait for instructions from Washington 
to carry out what he might deem proper to be done. 
Still, General Taylor did not advance, until, on the 
13th of January, 184G, the positive, decisive, fatal or- 
der was sent to him to take a position on the east 
bank of the Rio Grande : 

" I am directed by the President to instruct you to 
advance and occupy, with the troops under your com- 
mand, positions on or near the east bank of the Rio 
del Norte as soon as it can be conveniently done Avith 
reference to the season and the routes by which your 
movements must be made." 

Point Isabel, and points opposite Matamoras and 
Mier, in the vicinity of Laredo, are named as suita- 
ble places for taking up his position. 

The order of the government was obeyed. Gen- 
eral Taylor advanced upon Point Isabel, and took a 
position opposite Matamoras. 

Doubtless the President acted upon the idea that 
a feeble people were likely to be yielding in negotia- 
tion when an army hung upon and threatened their 
exposed frontier. He disregarded the noble Roman 
maxim, 

" Parcere subjectis, debellare supcrbos." 

Hence, when a minister was sent to negotiate, an 
army was ordered to take possession of the very ter- 
ritory which was to be the subject of negotiation, and 
a fleet hovered upon the coast of a province which 
that minister was instructed to purchase. If the 
force had been great enough, the policy might have 
been successful ; but our small army invited attack 
from its apparent lielplessness. 



136 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

There was something beyond the mere wish to qui- 
et the title to Texas which the President had in view 
when he ordered the army to the Rio Bravo. He 
had just Mien back in inglorious retreat through five 
parallels of latitude on the Pacific coast befi^re the 
most fi)rmidable power on the globe, and his aim ev- 
idently was to illustrate his administration by acquir- 
ing the northern provinces of Mexico. Phaeton was 
the reputed son of Phoebus, and, when his paternity 
was questioned, he visited the 25alace of the Sun, that 
he might prevail on his father to give him the means 
of proving his illustrious descent. Phoebus allowed 
him to drive his chariot for a day, and instructed him 
how to proceed through the regions of the air ; but 
the feeble hand of Phaeton could not guide the flying 
horses ; they departed from their track ; heaven and 
earth Avere threatened with conflagration, and order 
could not be restored until a bolt from the hand of 
Jupiter hurled the adventurous charioteer from his 
seat. The President, in his eagerness to vindicate 
his claim to the high station which he fills, ventured 
upon a policy Avhich has brought about similar con- 
fusion. General Jackson''s tone toward France, Avhich 
fortunately resulted in no mischief, was assumed by 
Mr. Polk in his negotiations with Great Britain ujDon 
the Oregon question, and we narrowly escaped war. 
It was employed against a feeble power with greater 
confidence of success. The President had set his 
heart upon acquiring New Mexico and California, 
and it occurred to him that the most successful mode 
of persuading Mexico to yield them up would be to 
station an army on her frontier and a fleet on her 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 137 

coast. That this was the aim of the President will 
clearly appear when the instructions given to Mr. 
Slidell are made public. He was sent to Mexico, 
not simply as a commissioner to settle open questions, 
and especially to fix the western boundary of Tex- 
as, but it seems that he was instructed to spread be- 
fore the Mexican government powerful considerations 
for giving up the desired provinces. As to New 
Mexico, Mr. Slidell was probably instructed to urge 
upon the Mexican government that it ought to be- 
long to the United States, a great portion of it lying 
on this side of the E,io Grande, and included within 
the limits already claimed by Texas ; it was, too, a 
remote and detached province, the possession of which 
could not be advantageous to that country ; but, if 
given up, she would be relieved from the trouble and 
expense of defending the inhabitants against the In- 
dians. From these and other considerations, it was 
clear that New Mexico ought to belong to the United 
States. 

Nor was California to be overlooked; on the con- 
trary, it was no doubt an important object of Mr. 
SlidelFs mission to secure a large part of that prov- 
ince. The possession of the bay and harbor of San 
Francisco was regarded as all important to the Unit- 
ed States ; it was believed, too, that the Mexican gov- 
ernment had but a slight hold on California, and that 
they Avould readily relinquish that hold for a suffi- 
cient consideration. 

It is easy to trace the object of the administration; 
it is impossible to mistake it: the main business of 
Mr. Slidell was to acquire New Mexico ajid Califor- 



138 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

nia. A fleet had sailed for the Pacific; the instruc- 
tions which the commander bore disclosed the j^ur- 
pose of the government. Upper California was to 
be taken; it was to be held; it was, under no circum- 
stances, to be given up ; avc were to be found in pos- 
session of it at the close of the war, so that if a treaty 
of peace should be made upon the basis of the iiti 
2wssidetis, we might retain it. 

General Kearney was sent to take possession of 
New Mexico, and he was instructed by the Secretary 
of War to assure the people of that i^rovince that it 
was the wish and design of the United States to pro- 
vide for them a free government Avith the least pos- 
sible delay, similar to that which exists in our TeiTi- 
tories. They were then to exercise the rights of free- 
men by electing their own representatives to the Ter- 
ritorial Legislature. The war has been prosecuted 
througliout for the purpose of securing New Mexico 
and California. There has not been a moment since 
its commencement when the administration would 
have concluded a peace on any other terms. It Avas 
for this that General Taylor was ordered to advance 
beyond the Kio Grande after he had scattered the 
Mexican army in hopeless confusion, and to range 
his victorious troops along the Sierra Madre. The 
President at one time disclaimed any such purpose ; 
but in his last annual message he employs no equiv- 
ocal languase. Peferriu"' to his former declaration 
respecting the Avar, lie says, 

"In my annual message to Congress of December 
last, I declared that the Avar had not been Avaged Avith 
a vicAV to conquest, but, having been commenced by 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 139 

Mexico, it has been carried into the enemy's country, 
and will be vigorously prosecuted there with a view 
to obtain an honorable peace, and thereby secure am- 
ple indemnity for the expenses of the war, as well as 
to our much-injured citizens who hold large pecuniary 
demands against Mexico. '•' '^ It has never been 
contemplated by me, as an object of the war, to make 
a permanent conquest of the Hepublic of Mexico, or 
to annihilate her separate existence as an independ- 
ent nation." 

The disclaimer now, it will be observed, is as to 
the Hepublic of Mexico, and is not applied to the cov- 
eted provinces. On the contrary, he boldly discloses 
his purpose to hold them in right of conquest : 

"In the mean time, as Mexico refuses all indem- 
nity, we should adopt measures to indemnify our- 
selves, by appropriating permanently a portion of 
her territory. Early after the commencement of the 
war. New Mexico and the Californias were taken 
possession of by our forces. Our military and na- 
val commanders were ordered to conquer and hold 
them, subject to be disposed of by a treaty of peace. 
These provinces are now in our undisputed occupa- 
tion, and have been so for many months, all resist- 
ance on the part of Mexico having ceased within 
their limits. I am satisfied that they should never 
be surrendered to Mexico." 

He advises Congress to extend over them the ju- 
risdiction and laws of the United States at once, and 
insists that Ave ought not to wait for a treaty of peace, 
but consider them at once as constituent parts of our 
country. The President is, in some respects, a bold 



140 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

man; for in his annual message, upon which I am 
remarking, he asserts that Congress contemplated the 
acquisition of territorial indemnity when that body 
made provision for the prosecution of the war. In 
seeking indemnity, he insists that the acquisition of 
territory was inevitable. It is hnpossible, sir, to ob- 
serve the course of this administration without per- 
ceiving that their object, from the first moment when 
they began to deal with the Mexican question, was 
the acquisition of the northern provinces of Mexico. 
These were to be torn from the central government, 
and held as the spoils of war. This is the meaning 
of indemnity for the past and security for the future 
— a phrase used as early as June, 1846, in a procla- 
mation sent out to General Taylor. 

It requires no publication of secret instructions to 
demonstrate this. The President informs us, in his 
last annual message, that the commissioner sent out 
to negotiate a treaty of peace was authorized to agree 
to the establishment of the Rio Grande as the bound- 
ary, from its entrance into the Gulf to its intersec- 
tion with the southern boundary of New Mexico, in 
north latitude about thirty-two degrees, and to ob- 
tain a cession to the United States of the provinces 
of New Mexico and the Californias, and the privilege 
of the right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuante- 
pec. The boundary of the Kio Grande, and the ces- 
sion to the United States of Ncav Mexico and Upper 
California, constituted an ultimatum Avhich our com- 
missioner was, under no circumstances, to yield. 

No one who thus traces the course of the adnnnis- 
tration can be at any loss to account for the order 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 141 

which sent the American army to take a position on 
the Rio Grande. The country bordering on that 
stream was to be acquired; New Mexico and Cali- 
fornia were to be secured. This was an ultimatum 
to be yielded under no circumstances ; it was intend- 
ed to be accomplished from the beginning, and the 
administration thought it a masterly policy to help 
the commissioner who was sent to negotiate for this 
territory by marching an army to intimidate the gov- 
ernment with which he was treating. 

This object, so steadily kept in vieAv by the admin- 
istration, is about to be accomplished. If the treaty 
which has gone out to the Mexican government 
should be ratified, the Rio Grande becomes the west- 
ern boundary of Texas, and New Mexico and U23per 
California will be added to our territorial j)Osses- 
sions ; at least we get all New Mexico, and so much 
of California as lies north of the River Gila, and a 
line drawn from its intersection Avith the Colorado 
to a point on the Pacific Ocean south of San Diego. 
If we had acquired the fabled garden of the Hesper- 
ides, the President could hardly be more full of ex- 
ultation. It is worth while to inquire for a moment 
what this territory is worth. The strip of country 
which fringes the Rio Grande can not be very valu- 
able. The population is said to be sparse, and the 
crops are uncertain. 

NcAv Mexico is described as a region Avholly un- 
suited to an agricultural population. Lofty and rug- 
ged mountains, narrow and poor valleys, make up its 
great features, Avhile an absence of water and of wood 
complete its uninviting asj^ect. A large portion is 



142 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

said to be made u]} "of rocks, sands, and desert 
wastes." It sustains a scattered and miserable pop- 
ulation. Let us, however, take its value as estimated 
by the Secretary of State, who is understood to have 
authorized Mr. Slidell to offer for it five millions of 
dollars. 

The most intelligent travelers who have visited 
Upper California agree in describing it as a country 
wholly destitute of attractions for a j)eople like our 
own. A very large proportion of the country is rep- 
resented as unfit for cultivation, and incapable of 
supporting any dense population. Those parts of it 
which are susceptible of agriculture must be subject- 
ed to it by irrigation. It has none of the resources 
which invite or encourage commerce. The most val- 
uable acquisition is the Bay of San Francisco ; this 
will, it is to be hoped, give increased security to our 
Pacific commerce. I am not disposed to depreciate 
its value, nor will I introduce statements respecting 
it which might have this eflfect. Let us take Mr. 
Buchanan'^s estimate of the value of Upper Califor- 
nia, embracing the Bay of San Francisco, which is 
understood to be fifteen millions of dollars ; while for 
an extension of this line on the Pacific, so as to take 
in Monterey, the administration authorized an offer 
of five millions more. 

Of what possible advantage can this extension of 
our territorial possessions be to us ? The Bay of San 
Francisco, as I have ah-eady said, is important to us 
in a commercial view ; and the barren regions of New 
Mexico and Upper California will form a boundary 
over which, it is to be hoped, our spreading popula- 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON 143 

tion will not be inclined to pass. But what do we 
pay for it ? Upward of twenty millions of dollars in 
cash, besides the Avhole expenses of the war, which 
will probably swell the amount to one hundred and 
fifty millions. Compare this with the amount paid 
by us for Louisiana. We gave for the rich and ex- 
tensive territory included under that name eighty 
millions of francs — about fifteen millions of dollars. 
It was essential to us ; it completed the compactness 
of our territorial possessions ; it gave us the com- 
mand of the entrance of the Mississij^pi, and, over- 
looking every other feature, its importance may be 
estimated by a single glance at New Orleans. There 
is a great city, rapidly growing in population and 
wealth ; a magnificent emporium of commerce, re- 
ceiving the productions of a continent, and sending 
them out through all the world. Set down the cost 
of that immense and fertile territory by the side of 
the sum which we are to pay for our new acquisition, 
and you will be prepared to estunate the advantage 
which the policy of this administration has conferred 
upon the country. 

But there is another element of cost in the acqui- 
sition of this new territory which must not be forgot- 
ten. Louisiana was acquired by negotiation ; it was 
acquired in peace ; it came to ,us a purchase. But, 
in addition to the enormous outlay of money to Avhicli 
we are subjected by the policy of the administration 
in acquiring our new territorial ^possessions, we yield 
up twenty-five thousand human lives. The treaty 
which secures to us this territory is stained with blood. 
There is, too, yet another sacrifice which we make in 



144 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

securing these coveted provinces — a sacrifice of the 
most costly kind — I mean, the loss of national char- 
acter. "With our ample resources, we shall soon re- 
plenish our empty treasury, and our vigorous popu- 
lation will hardly feel the check given to it by the 
loss of twenty-five thousand of our joeople ; but when 
will the character of the nation recover from the 
wound which it has received ? What art can relieve 
the national escutcheon from "the spots" which stain 
it ? We have received from the other side of the 
Atlantic the tidings of a convulsion which has over- 
turned a throne ; an enthusiastic people, our former 
allies, long accustomed to admire our institutions, 
have established a republic. Our example has been 
felt throughout the world ; the high career which we 
have heretofore pursued, the glorious example of reg- 
ulated liberty which we have exhibited, the magna- 
nimity which has marked our intercourse with other 
nations — all this has awakened throughout the world 
the noblest hopes. But we now turn from this high 
career ; we carry our eagles in triumph over a neigh- 
boring and feeble people, and we wrest from them 
provinces which they are reluctant to surrender. The 
example is a fatal one, and its influence upon the 
world must be disastrous. Say what we may, this is 
a conquest ; the Mexican government is driven from 
place to place, hunted down, overthrown, and then a 
bastard treaty is negotiated, which is helped forward 
by the bayonet and the purse, bribery being called in 
to accomplish what force could not effect. Against 
this mode of acquiring territory I solemnly protest. 
I do not object to the extension of our institutions. 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 145 

nor am I troubled with those apprehensions which 
seem to haunt the minds of some gentlemen in regard 
to this subject. There is a principle belonging to 
our system of confederated states which Avill bear ex- 
pansion ; it can grasp a continent. Steam and the 
telegraph have so increased the means of communica- 
tion, that the utmost points of our wide land are 
brought into the relations of neisfliborhood. But let 
this growth of our institutions be spontaneous and 
gradual, and let neighboring provinces seek to come 
within the sheltering sanctity of our government. 

This, then, is the achievement of the administra- 
tion ; upon this acquisition of territory it rests its 
fame. What other public benefit can it claim to have 
conferred upon the country ? Has it done any thing 
toward developing the resources of the nation ? Has 
it done any thing for the commerce, the agriculture, 
or the industry of our people ? To what single mon- 
ument of its wisdom, its energy, or its enterprise can 
it point? No improvements have grown up under 
its hand ; it has brought upon the people the demor- 
alizing influence of war, and it has entailed upon the 
country an immense public debt. Suppose it had 
pursued a career of -peace, how much greater would 
be our prosperity at the present moment. The vast 
sums expended in war would have been saved ; we 
should have been free from debt, and the very terri- 
tory which we are about to acquire at so great an ex- 
penditure of money, and life, and character, might 
have been purchased for an inconsiderable sum. 

I am not insensible to the military glory which our 
arms have won in the late war with Mexico. The 

K 



146 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

brilliant achievements of our armies will compare 
well with those of any age or any nation. The blend, 
ed courage and skill of our officers, and the indomi- 
table ardor of our troops, have illustrated the Amer- 
ican name. But how was this glory earned ? Not 
by the administration, but in spite of the administra- 
tion ; as Colonel Barre declared of the American col- 
onies in the great struggle for independence, when it 
Avas said that they had been planted and nourished 
by the care of the mother country, "They planted 
by your care ! They have grown and prospered in 
spite of your care. "" 

The fostering hand of this administration might 
well have crushed an army of less vigorous materials. 
The officers in command have been watched with a 
jealousy which lost no occasion to exhibit itself. The 
army under General Taylor, after the splendid victo- 
ries of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, overcom- 
ing every obstacle, making up with their own energies 
for the want of the means of transportation, marched 
against Monterey, a walled city of immense strength, 
defended by a nuich greater force than that which 
attacked it, assaulted and carried it, and their victo- 
rious leader was rewarded by the censure of an ad- 
ministration which, overlooking all the glory of such 
exploits, hastened to condemn an act which secured 
complete possession of the place — an act which was 
characterized by a wisdom and humanity hardly less 
admirable than the courage and firmness of the illus- 
trious captain who performed it. Deprived of his 
regular troops, he was left in an advanced and ex- 
posed position, Avhcn, with a little army made up al- 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 147 

most wholly of volunteers, he received the shock of 
battle from a Mexican army twenty thousand strong, 
led by Santa Anna in person, and repulsed them. 
How much of the glory of Buena Vista is due to the 
administration ? 

Another distinguished officer, of splendid abilities, 
invested and took Vera Cruz and the Castle of San 
Juan de Ulloa, exhibiting the highest military skill ; 
pressing on to Cerro Gordo, he Avon a brilliant vic- 
tory; and the government, busy with its fostering 
care, objected to the disposition which he made of his 
prisoners. 

Advancing upon tlie capital ; meeting and over- 
coming obstacles in his march which remind us of 
the exj^loits of Cortes, he carries, with a small army, 
the city of Mexico ; and Avhile the world is resound- 
ing with the fame of those achievements, Scott is re- 
moved from the command of an army which he had 
led through these successive victories, and called to 
appear before a court of inquiry. 

But, sir, this administration is passing away; its 
days are rapidly drawing to a close. Let it go; it 
has lost the oj^portunity of doing good, and, I fear, 
has done great mischief A young Frenchman called 
on Louis XIV. when that monarch had reached an 
advanced age, and asked him to confer an appoint- 
ment on him. The monarch exclaimed impatient!}', 
"You shall never have it while I live." "Very 
Well, sire," replied the young gentleman, "I can af- 
ford to wait." 

The country is young and vigorous, and will out- 
live a bad administration ; it can afford to wait ; but 



148 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

the administration leaves us a most unenviable her- 
itage in its history. In speaking of it, one is almost 
ready to borrow Macauley's description of the reign 
of Charles II. : "Those are days which can never be 
recalled without a blush — days of dwarfish talents 
and gigantic vices." 

Let us turn from the past and look to the future. 
The jDarty opposed to the administration will proba- 
bly come into power. We certainly shall, if we do 
not throw away our advantages. The time has come 
when a very large proportion of the people of the 
United States desire to see one elevated to the pres- 
idency Avho holds himself uncommitted to mere party 
measures, and looks out upon a horizon Avide enough 
to embrace his whole countr}^ The country has suf- 
fered from the fierce collision of parties, and its great 
interests are passed upon by irresponsible bodies, 
calling themselves conventions, Avhich sketch not only 
the plan of a political campaign, but lay down the 
principles which shall govern an administration. 

I rejoice that one man has been found in the coun- 
try with courage enough to refuse to lend himself to 
the advancement of mere party schemes, and who, 
following the great example of Washington, Avill ad- 
minister the government for the good of the people 
of the whole country. We have always denounced 
"a president who could never forget that he belonged 
to a party, or rise to the enlarged patriotism which 
oujrlit to characterize the chief mao;istrate of the 
United States, and yet some object to the noble po- 
sition which General Taylor takes when he refuses to 
practice the supple subserviency of a partisan. I re- 



A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 149 

gard that position with unqualified admiration. He 
does not deny his identity with the Whig party. 
He declares his unwillingness to conceal that fact 
from the American people. He frankly avows his 
desire to see some of the eminent men of that party 
elected to the j^residency; but he refuses, with true 
dignity, to allow others to extort from hun pledges, 
or to undertake to carry out any set of measures 
which others may wish to impose on him. To bor- 
row his own language, he ' ' asks no favor and shrinks 
from no responsibility.'"' He does not court popular 
favor. He remains in the quiet discharge of his du- 
ties, and leaves the people to decide as they may 
think best whether he shall be called to administer 
the government, or left in the station which he now 
fills, and which he has rendered so illustrious. 

Such a course presents a broad contrast to that 
which is sometimes pursued by aspirants to the pres- 
idency, who traverse sea and land to make proselytes, 
and bid for the purple by committing themselves to 
the favorite schemes of different latitudes. 

Such ambition sometimes overleaps itself The 
support which the popular sentiment of the country 
gives to General Taylor's noble position is a cheering 
indication. It is full of j)romise for the future, and 
reminds us of earlier and better days. I believe that 
the people will bear him triumphantly into the pres- 
idency. He will administer the government with a 
strict regard to the Constitution; he will call into 
his cabinet the ablest of his jDolitical friends ; he will 
arrest the demoralizing practice of expelling good 
men from the subordinate offices to put ultra parti- 



150 A GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON. 

sans in their place, and will return to the better rule 
of inquiring as to applicants, "Is he honest? Is he 
capable?" He will restore the great principles which 
belonged to the early republican administrations, and 
mil guide the country into a high career of prosper- 
ity and glory. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTIOK 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, APRIL 3d, 1848. 



Mr. Speaker, — In moving to refer the resolutions 
and amendments which have been brought forward 
upon the subject of the late Revolution in France to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which I am a 
member, I simply desire to secure a proper expression 
of the sympathy which we feel in that movement. 
The occasion is one of no common moment ; it must 
deeply affect the cause of mankind throughout the 
world. I am not ready to extend the sympathy of 
this government to any people who simply overturn 
a throne to plunge into the wild, unrestricted, and 
reckless experiment of ideal liberty. Every kingless 
government is not of necessity a republican govern- 
ment. Liberty can not exist without law; its ele- 
ments must be consolidated, and its great principles 
be embodied in a Constitution. The great movement 
in France must develop institutions before it accom- 
plishes any permanent good for the French people. 
I confess that I am not free from apprehension as to 
the future ; the convulsion which exhibits a form so 
attractive to-day, may yet upturn the foundations of 
society, and result in the wildest anarchy. On the 
other hand, there is, in the great popular movement 
which has so suddenly and so successfully exj^elled 
royalty from France, much of promise for that beau- 



152 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

tiful country and for mankind. I solemnly believe 
that the time has come when kingcraft has lost its 
hold upon the human mind. The world is waking 
from its deep slumber, and mankind begin to see 
that the right to govern belongs not to crowned kings, 
but to the great masses. The age in which we live 
will, I trust, witness the complete enfranchisement of 
nations which have long been governed too much. 

I think, sir, that we ought to sustain our minister 
(Mr. Rush), who so promptly, without the opportu- 
nity of consulting his government, hailed the popu- 
lar movement which expelled a powerful dynasty 
and proclaimed a rejDublic. It was a generous im- 
pulse which prompted the act, and the country will 
applaud it. 

There are certainly some features in the scene which 
France presents not wholly agreeable to a thoughtful 
observer, and which awaken the apprehension that 
the provisional government just established has prom- 
ised more than it can redeem. The fraternity which 
has been adopted may not be consistent with regula- 
ted liberty ; it may be the dream of idealists, and not 
the conception of a j^hilosophical statesman. The 
measure, too, which has been adopted in regard to 
the labor and wages of operatives, doubling their com- 
pensation, and undertaking to employ them on the 
part of the government, is a very unsafe one. Ev- 
ery one accustomed to the order of well-regulated lib- 
erty must see the danger of such legislation. It par- 
takes too much of the character of a system of social 
reform too impracticable to be easily recognized. 
Still, these may be but temporary arrangements, de- 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 153 

signed to give the new government time to adjust the 
complicated details of the great task which has been 
undertaken. There are circumstances which may 
awaken apprehension, but they can not repress sym- 
pathy. No, sir, they can not prevent the expression 
of our deep and full sympathy with a people strug- 
gling to make a free government like our own. I, 
for one, can not look upon such a sjDcctacle unmoved. 
It may be premature — it may be even rash ; but I 
should think myself unworthy of a seat in an Amer- 
ican Congress if I could refuse to cheer a people en- 
gaged in such a work. May they go on and prosper, 
and may they erect upon the soil of France a govern- 
ment resting upon the great principles of constitu- 
tional law, insuring order at home, commanding re- 
spect abroad, and throwing over Europe the clear and 
steady light of rational liberty. 

I regret, sir, that the gentleman from Massachu- 
setts (Mr. Ashmun) has thought proper to connect 
with this subject another which does not belong to it. 
I do not impute to him any improper motive, but he 
must know that the people of this confederacy can 
not hear Avithout painful sensibility their social insti- 
tutions alluded to in such offensive terms. There is 
on the part of the South nothing aggressive ; they 
are content to sustain the government as it is ; they 
make no war upon the people or the institutions of 
the North. But, sir, they observe your movements 
here with profound interest. They know their rights, 
and there is throughout their entire borders a purpose 
to maintain them Avith a courage and firmness which 
nothing can intimidate or shake. 



154 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

The feeling, then, in regard to the subject which 
has thus been thrust upon the House so recklessly, is 
so profound, so well settled, and, to borrow a mode 
of expression from the French, so eternal, that it is 
impossible to touch it without danger. 

I repeat, sir, that in moving to refer the resolutions 
before us to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I have 
no hostile purpose. I desire that, when Congress 
does sjoeak upon this subject, it shall speak in well- 
weighed and becoming terms. I do not like the lan- 
guage of these resolutions. It so lia2:)pens that we 
are often called on to vote on propositions suddenly 
thrown into the House, when we can not express our 
own true sense. Let the resolutions go to the appro- 
priate committee, and come back to us in a better 
form. 



EEVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PEESIDENT 

POLK. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF EEPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, JULY 24th, 1847. 

Mr. Speaker, — The message of the President, 
which has just been read, is so important, that I am 
unwilling to see it referred without some discussion. 
It is impossible for any man who claims to be even 
a casual observer of passing events to overlook the 
intensely interesting aspect which public affairs wear 
at the present moment. Tlie war with Mexico has 
been brought to a close, and we must fix our atten- 
tion on events transpiring at home, which possess as 
high a moral interest as the late brilliant achieve- 
ments of our invading armies. I was here, sir, when 
the President communicated to Congress the startling 
fact that war had broken out upon our frontier, and 
I count it a j)iece of good fortune to be here now, 
when he informs us that peace is restored. The war 
has been attended with circumstances so extraordi- 
nary, and has developed results so important, that I 
can not suffer them to pass without notice and ani- 
madversion. 

Some days since we had a message from the Pres- 
ident transmitting the treaty lately concluded vdth 
Mexico. That message was unworthy of the high 
source from which it came ; it wanted dignity ; it 
was totally destitute of that elevation of sentiment 



156 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

which ought to characterize such a state paper. It 
was written in a boastful spirit, and proclaimed the 
success of our policy, Avithout a single allusion to the 
calamities of war, or a passing tribute to the courage 
or the patriotism of the dead Avho fell under the flag 
of our country, or to the living who brought it back 
in triumph. The President passes by all this, and 
comes with indecent haste to inform us that he has 
driven a good bargain with Mexico. In the very 
spirit of a hard dealer, he boasts of the advantages 
which he has Avon, l)y tearing from a feeble neighbor 
some of her finest territories, and adding them to our 
OAvn possessions. He says, 

"NcAv Mexico and Upper California have been 
ceded by Mexico to the United States, and noAV con- 
stitute a part of our country. Embracing nearly ten 
degrees of latitude, lying adjacent to the Oregon Ter- 
ritory, and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the 
Rio Grande, a mean distance of nearly a thousand 
miles, it Avould be difficult to estimate the A^alue of 
these possessions to the United States. They consti- 
tute of themselves a country large enough for a great 
empire, and their acquisition is second only in import- 
ance to that of Louisiana in 1803. Kich in mineral 
and agricultural resources, with a climate of great sa- 
lubrity, they embrace the most important ports on 
the Avhole Pacific coast of the continent of North 
America. The possession of the ports of San Diego, 
Monterey, and the Bay of San Francisco Avill enable 
the United States to command the already valuable 
and rapidly increasing commerce of the Pacific." 

These are the terms in which the President boasts 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 157 

of the results of the war. Before I resume my seat, 
I think I shall be able to show that there is no ground 
for boasting or congratulation. One of three propo- 
sitions is certainly true : either Mexico has lost by 
the treaty which has terminated the war, or we have 
lost by it, or it is a drawn bargain. If we have lost 
any thing by the arrangement, the administration will 
be held responsible for the loss ; if we have gained an 
advantage over Mexico, it reflects no credit upon a 
country so superior as our oa\ti is in power and re- 
sources ; and if the advantages of the adjustment are 
to be considered as balanced, how is the President to 
answer to his conscience, to his country, and to man- 
kind, for plunging us into a contest Avhich has called 
for so profuse an expenditure of blood and of treas- 
ure, and which has yielded such fruitless results ? He 
may take either of these hypotheses, and he will find 
that boasting is excluded. 

In commenting on the message, I shall observe the 
same order of subjects as is observable in the docu- 
ment itself It treats of the past, it exhibits the 
present, and it invites us to look to tlie future. I 
shall pursue the same order. This is an appropriate 
time to review the policy of the administration, and 
to show the country its results. 

What was the condition of the country when the 
administration came into power? We were almost 
free from debt ; that which had accumulated during 
a preceding administration had been reduced to an 
inconsiderable sum, under the influence of the wise 
and vigorous measures of a Whig Congress. Public 
credit, which was drooping, was fully re-established, 



158 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

and every great interest in the country was in a high 
state of prosperity. I comprehend what I say, sir. 
"We all know that a financial system may be well 
enough adapted to a special emergency that it would 
not be wise to continue as a permanent arrangement. 
I repeat, sir, we were rapidly discharging our public 
debt. The President states in one of his messages, 
that, but for the war, that debt would have been ex- 
tinguished. 

Our relations with the whole world were pacific. 
Nothing threatened to disturb the profound peace 
which the country had so long enjoyed except two 
questions — the one aifecting om" rights to the Terri- 
tory of Oregon, and the other the western boundary 
of Texas. These questions became prominent only 
because of the manner in which they were treated by 
Mr. Polk's administration. "We are all familiar with 
the history of the negotiations respecting Oregon. 
The question had been sleeping for years. Our peo- 
ple were settling there, and strengthening every day 
the policy of "masterly inactivity," when suddenly 
our title to the whole territory was declared by a 
Democratic convention to be clear and indisputable. 
A question which had divided cabinets for years was 
disposed of in a few hours, and party banners dis- 
played the word "Oregon" as an essential part of a 
creed. That party elected their president, and when 
he came up to be inaugurated, standing, on that 
grand occasion, in front of this Capitol, as the rep- 
resentative of the whole American people, he who 
was about to take charge of our foreign relations 
proclaimed, Avith indecent recklessness, in the face of 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 159 

the whole world, that our title to a territory which 
had been in dispute for half a century Avas clear and 
unquestionable. The natural and necessary conse- 
quence was, that the question was at once invested with 
the highest importance, and the two greatest nations 
of Christendom began to arm, and were about to 
enter into a deadly contest about a few barren acres. 
This whole country was roused. The North looked 
with apprehension to the probable termination of a 
question whose settlement by arras must pow^erfully 
aiFect its manufacturing and commercial prosperity, 
while the South regarded it with equal anxiety in its 
bearing on the market for its great staples. A long 
and most excited controversy was carried on in both 
houses of Congress, the President, with his cabinet, 
asserting our right quite up to 54° 40', and announc- 
ing their determination to stand by it to the last, 
when suddenly the Senate were informed that the 
line of 49° could be secured as our northern bounda- 
ry, and the executive invited that body to advise 
him in advance as to its acceptance. The wisdom 
and the patriotism of the Senate averted from the 
country a most disastrous war. A body which had 
been fiercely denounced by the partisans of the Pres- 
ident as insensible to the rights and the honor of the 
nation, came to his relief when their aid w^as invoked, 
and taking charge of a question which had, by mis- 
management, wellnigh brought us into collision with 
England, they adjusted it, and restored a good under- 
standing between two great Christian powers. It is 
perhaps proper that I should say my own personal 
opinion was, that we were rightfully entitled to the 



160 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

country as far north as 54° 40'; but as we had re- 
peatedly offered, in former negotiations, to take 49°, 
I held that we were morally bound not to refuse a 
settlement on that parallel. I was willing to give 
Great Britain notice to terminate the joint occupancy 
of the country, because I apprehend that, if it were 
left as an open question, the President would involve 
us in a war. I voted for the notice as a peace meas- 
ure. 

The other open question which affected our foreign 
relations, and which the administration took charge 
of, was with Mexico. This grew out of the annexa- 
tion of Texas. I never doubted the right of the 
United States to admit Texas into the Union. Tex- 
as had achieved her independence ; she was an inde- 
pendent state, de facto and de jure. I considered 
this question calmly and thoroughly while absent in 
Europe, away from the influence of party, and look- 
ing only to the effect of the measure upon this coun- 
try and upon the Avorld. But, sir, it Avill be remem- 
bered, the joint resolution by which Texas was an- 
nexed provided, in order to avoid a conflict between 
that state and Mexico, that it was "to be formed 
subject to adjustment by this government of all ques- 
tions of boundary that may arise with other govern- 
inents." It was well known that the western bound- 
ary of Texas Avas in dispute, and, while Texas claimed 
to the Rio Bravo del Norte, Congress reserved to our 
OAvn government the right to adjust this question re- 
specting the extent of her territory. The President 
has repeatedly admitted that the eastern bank of that 
stream was disputed territory, and has seemed to pre^ 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 161 

fer the title of Mexico, by authorizing Mr. Slidell to 
offer that government compensation for the sm-render 
of it. This boundary was to have been settled by 
negotiation; the President was bound to adjust it in 
that way; he had no authority to control the ques- 
tion in any other mode. If that failed, it became his 
duty to inform Congress of the fact. It would then 
have become our duty to decide what measures were 
necessary for the protection of the frontiers of Texas, 
and the great question of peace or war would liave 
been decided by that body to which the Constitution 
has intrusted it. The President undertook to decide 
the question by arms; he assumed that the Pio 
Grande was the boundary between Texas and Mexi- 
co ; and while Congress was actually sitting, while he 
was in daily communication with us, he usurped the 
power belonging to us, and sent an army to invade 
the very territory which he was endeavoring to se- 
cure by negotiation. In the very message received 
to-day, he admits that the territory was all the while 
in disjiute. Who can doubt that the President has 
transcended his authority? Who does not see that 
he usurped a dangerous power? I repeat that Con- 
gress had the right to authorize the President to take 
possession of the territory, but, until he was invested 
with this power by us, his act was one of naked 
usurpation, too monstrous to be vindicated, and too 
dangerous to be passed over without censure. 

Lord Chatham said, in the British Parliament, in 
the true spirit of liberty, "Where law ends, tyranny 
begins." Sir, it is true; if we can surrender that 
principle, we surrender all that is worth preserviii"-. 

L 



162 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

Give up to the President the power of making war; 
leave it to him to fix your boundaries, to back your 
negotiations with bayonets, to decide your questions 
with other nations by bringing up armies or fleets to 
aid the adjustment, and he will need no crown to 
make hmi royal; the very power with which you in- 
vest him makes him every inch a king. 

The glory of our political system hitherto has been, 
that poAver was distributed, checked, guarded; that 
the legislative power was one thing, the executive 
power another, and that of the judiciary distinct from 
both these. But if the President is allowed to seize 
and exert one of the most important powers of Con- 
gress — no less power than that of deciding the ques- 
tion of war or peace — and if, in the very body whose 
authority has been thus violated and contemned; if 
in this body, which ought forever to stand between 
executive aggressions and popular rights ; this body, 
without whose votes not a single tax can be laid, not 
a single dollar expended; if, I say, in this represent- 
ative body, men are to rise uj) and sustain this usurp- 
ation of the President, then it will hardly be worth 
while Ions; to o-o throu2;h the forms of leo;islation. 
We may take down the mace from beside your chair; 
we may leave these seats vacant, and, placing all the 
powers of the government in the hands of one man, 
commit the prosperity, the liberties, and the glory of 
the country to his keeping. 

When it w^as announced to us by the President that 
our troops had been attacked by the Mexican forces, 
the Whigs were ready to vote supplies for the army. 
They wished, it is true, to avoid war ; they objected 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 163 

to a preamble which was contrived expressly to shield 
the unconstitutional act of the President ; they pre- 
ferred to treat the collision on the banks of the Rio 
Grande as an assault on the part of Mexico which 
mio;ht be disavowed and atoned for without involvin"; 
the countries in a j^rotracted conflict ; they desired to 
defend the boundaries which had been claimed and 
occupied without hastening to invade a neighboring 
country. But this did not suit the policy of the ex- 
ecutive, and he accordingly poured our victorious ar- 
mies into the Mexican territory, and he conquered 
and held provinces by force which were ready, if he 
had waited, to drop into our hands like ripe fruit at 
a touch. Yet, in this document, the President de- 
clares that the alternative of war was embraced by 
him reluctantly. Where was the necessity of inva- 
sion after the brilliant victories of Palo Alto and Re- 
saca de la Palma ? When Avould the flying Mexicans 
have rallied and recrossed the Pio Grande? The 
very terror of Taylor's name would have driven them 
from the whole line of that stream. 

Having thus rapidly glanced at the past course of 
this administration, I desire to survey the scenes 
which surround us. Let us inquire what we have 
gained by this policy. It is not necessary to say that, 
while Ave entered into this war almost free from debt, 
we are now burdened with a heavy one. I suppose 
our expenditures will not fall short of one hundred 
and fifty millions of dollars. When the interests or 
the honor of the country are at stake, we will not stop 
to count the cost of war. I adopt the glorious sen- 
timent, which had its orio;in Avith a Southern man 



KM llEVIEW OK THE I'OIACY OF PllESIDENT POLK. 

(listiii^iiislKMl for liis nonius and his patriotism, "Mill- 
ions ibr (Icibnsc — not a cent for tribute ;" and I may 
add, Every thing for the glory of our country. But 
as the l'i-<'si<l("iit seems in his message to cast u]), in 
tlie spirit of one avIio drives a bargain, the advantiiges 
of tlie war, it is not amiss to keep in view the outlay 
of money in the acquisition of our possessions. But 
I will not dwell on Ihis, nor Avill 1 undei'take to es- 
timate our other losses in the prosecution of this con- 
test, which far exceed the most lavish ex])enditure of 
treasure. I shall not say a Avord of the unreturning 
brave, who went out so Avarm with hope, so full of 
energy and life — of the gallant men Avho died by dis- 
ease, or who fell in l)attle under the flag of their coun- 
try. Their nu^mory is safe; they fell as men Avho 
love their country are ahvays ready to fall : 

" How .sloop tin; l)r;iv(>, who sink to rest 
]5y all llicur country's wishes blcss'd !" 

But there is a great question groAving out of this 
Avar Avliich can not be OA^erlooked — a question too 
formidable to be neglected, and, it may be, too ex- 
citing to ])v ejisily settled. It already flings its shad- 
ow along the Avhole extent of the country. It Avears 
nn a})])alling aspect. It is pregnant Avith danger. 
'J'he considerations Avhich gather about it are so im- 
portant, and the interests Avhich it aifects ai'e so great, 
that it must aAvaken apprehension in any one Avho 
conq)reh('nds its ])OAver. I speak, sir, of the question 
Avhich ijivolves the rights of the shiveholding states 
of this confederacy. Tlie territory a\ hicli we have ac- 
(luired belongs to the peoph^ of this Avhole country, 
spread throughout its thirty states ; yet, in the organ- 



REVIEW OF TIJE VOUCY OF I'llESIUENT i'OLK. 105 

ization of territorial governments, it is sought Ly one 
portion of the people to secure the whole advantarre 
of our new acquisitions to their exclusive benefit. 
The political power of the Xorth is to he still farther 
swellefl, while the Southern States are to be g-irded 
in, and their people shut out from all enjoyment of 
p]'operty acquired by the mingled blood and the com- 
mon treasure of the whole country. From the very 
battle-fields where the men of the South fell beneath 
the eagles of their country', their kindred are to be 
forever excluded. How shall this question be dis- 
posed of? TTiis is the question to which we must 
turn our attention. It rises before us in all its vast 
proportions ; it is the same question wdiich Mr. Jef- 
ferson described as striking upon his ear like the 
sound of a fire-bell at night, awakinf' him and filling' 
him with terror. A profound anxiety pervades the 
public mind ; a sectional jealousy is aroused which 
threatens the harmony of these confederated states. 
At the North, a formidable organization is already 
exhibited; an ex-President of the United States leads 
a party whose aim is to destroy the political power 
of the South. Combinations are set on foot which 
break the lines of regular parties, and men are invited 
to abandon existing political associations, and gather 
about the standard of one wdio, forgetting all that is 
due to his country and his fame, draAvs off from his 
former allies, and takes a position as the chief of a 
faction. 

We greatly misapprehend the state of feeling both 
at the Xorth and at t?ie South if we do not see that 
it is becoming thoroughly roused. Let us not under- 



166 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

rate the importance and the results of this question. 
In a country so extensive as ours, sectional jealousies 
and political divisions, organized upon geographical 
lines, are always alarming. It should ever be the 
aim of patriotism to repress them. The President, 
alluding to the existing feeling in the country, says : 

"There has, perhaps, been no period since the warn- 
ing so impressively given by Washington to his coun- 
trymen, to guard against geographical divisions and 
sectional parties, which appeals with greater force 
than the present to the j)atriotic, sober-minded, and 
reflecting of all parties, and of all sections of our 
country. Who can calculate the value of our glo- 
rious Union? It is a model and example of free 
government to all the world, and is the star of hope 
and haven of rest to the oppressed of every clime. 
By its preservation we have been rapidly advanced 
as a nation to a height of strength, power, and haj)- 
piness without a parallel in the history of the world. 
As we extend its blessing over new regions, shall we 
be so unwise as to endanger its existence by geograph- 
ical divisions and dissensions'?" 

After precipitating the country into this perilous 
position by his war of conquest, he invokes the pa- 
triotism of Congress, and complacently appeals to the 
counsels of Washington. 

In the recent debates of the Senate, it has been said 
that this question threatens the Union. Who has 
forced it upon us? Is not this administration respon- 
sible for all the consequences that may grow out of 
it ? No man can be indifferent as to what is passing 
around us. As avcII might men be indifferent who 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 107 

stand upon the deck of a vessel drifting upon break- 
ers ; their very roar is already in our ears. 

In this haU, even, there are men Avho devote their 
lives to the single business of agitation — who employ 
all their energies in alienating the Xorth from the 
South, and who seek, by every means within their 
power, to inflame the popular mind of every other 
portion of the Union against the people of the slave- 
holding states. Yielding themselves up to this single 
object, forgetting all that is glorious in the common 
history of these states, and overlooking all that Is 
cheering in the future, impelled by a sleepless and 
undying liatred to the South, this party — if it deserves 
to be called by a name so honorable — is the very im- 
personation of that bigotry which rushes fonvard w^ith 
an averted face in its reckless career, deaf alike to the 
voice of reason and of patriotism. 

It is high time to appeal to the patriotism of the 
country — ^to call on the people to save this glorious 
structure reared by the men of the Revolution ; for 
we can not be insensible to the responsibility of our 
position ; all the past appeals to us — voices from the 
battle-fields where liberty struck, and from the senate- 
chambers where liberty spoke, call on us to be faith- 
ful to our great trust ; and those who are to come 
after us seem to press into our presence with silent 
but beseeching faces, and implore us to save our 
country in this crisis. If we ever intend to rescue 
the country from the perils which invest it, we ought 
to do it now. 

In regard to the authority of Congress over the 
territories of the United States, I desire to give my 



168 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

views. The question, at all times an interesting one, 
has now assumed great practical importance. The 
first proposition which I shall state is, that Congress 
possesses exclusive power to legislate for the territo- 
ries of the United States. Of this I do not entertain 
a doubt ; and, while I have heard various opinions 
expressed here in regard to this subject, I am at a loss 
to see how any one who examines it can reach any 
other conclusion. That the whole j)ower over the 
territories originally rests in Congress is perfectly 
clear, and it remains for those who assert that the 
right to legislate in respect to them belongs to the 
peoj)le who inhabit them to show at what time the 
power is transferred from Congress to the inhabitants. 
But, sir, this question has been so often examined 
here that I will not consume my limited time in con- 
sidering it. 

My second proposition is that, while Congress pos- 
sesses the exclusive j^ower of legislation for the terri- 
tories, that power is by no means an unlimited one. 
It is just here that gentlemen often fall into error. 
Exclusive does not mean unlimited. The power to 
which I refer is exclusive in that it acknowledoces no 
co-ordinate jurisdiction ; but it is restricted, as are 
all the powers delegated to Congress. While Con- 
gress, then, undertakes to exercise the power of ex- 
clusive legislation for the territories, it is bound to 
carry on its legislation in reference to the character 
of tlie states of this confederacy, from which it derives 
the power. It must regard the rights of all the 
states, and can not, without an abuse of its power, 
legislate for the benefit of one section at the expense 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 169 

of another ; it is an abuse of its power as an agent 
for the states, I care not whether the legislation be 
for the benefit of the South at "the expense of the 
North, or for the benefit of the North at the expense 
of the South. 

This brings me to my third proposition, which is, 
that Congress is not, in its legislation for the Terri- 
tories, to look to their welfare alone, but is bound to 
regard the good of the parties interested in the own- 
ership of the Territories. This, it will be perceived, 
is in direct opposition to the opinions advanced by a 
distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, the suc- 
cessor of Mr. Adams (Mr. Mann), in his beautiful in- 
troductory speech in this hall — a speech which, I con- 
fess, I listened to with admiration, though I strongly 
dissented from some of its sentiments. The gentle- 
man insists that Congress, in legislating for the Ter- 
ritories, must look to their good alone, and shape all 
measures so as to advance their prosperity, without 
any regard to the rights of the people of the several 
states. This doctrine, though it has a certain charm 
about it, is wholly erroneous. Let us apply this rea- 
soning to the Territory of Oregon, which, stretching 
along the Pacific coast, fronts certain parts of north- 
eastern Asia. Would Congress have a right to say 
that this territory should be occupied only by colo- 
nists from China, because a prosperous trade might 
be attained with the East, and the prosperity of Or- 
egon rapidly advanced if that course were taken? 
Unquestionably not. Or, suppose that Congress 
should happen to conclude that it was imj^ortant to 
the welfare of that territory to allow only a manufac- 



170 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

turing population to remove there, would it be prop- 
er to legislate for this object ? Unquestionably not. 

The gentleman from Massachusetts considers terri- 
tory which we acquire as the j^roj^erty of this govern- 
ment, and insists that Congress possesses the right to 
control it absolutely. This is a very common error. 
It results from a certain system of political training. 
If our government were a monarchy, and all powers, 
or the sovereign power, centred in the crown, the ar- 
gument might hold good ; or it might be maintained 
if the states which we represent were consolidated 
into one great empire. But, sir, ours is a federative 
rejDublic ; it bears no resemblance to an emj)ire what- 
ever ; it is a structure unlike what the world ever 
saw, deriving its powers from sovereign states, who 
are members of this confederation ; and this govern- 
ment, this general government, can exercise none but 
the powers wdiicli are clearly granted to it by the 
states. Whatever territory is acquired is acquired 
for the people of the several states, and Congress 
must remember to exercise its legislative functions in 
regard to it as their agent. 

I am asked by my friend from New York (Mr. 
Duor) where the restrictions on the powers of Con- 
gress are to be found? They result from the very 
nature of our political system. If there are parties 
to this confederacy, a portion of whom would be in- 
jured by the legislation of Congress, is Congress act- 
ing in good faith when it exercises legislation in that 
direction ? Congress, as my friend from Tennessee, 
near me (Mr. Gentry), well suggests, would thus, as 
a common agent for all the states w^ho are parties to 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OP PRESIDENT POLK. 171 

the interest, abuse its power for the benefit of one or 
more of the parties. It can not be denied that all the 
states of this Union have a clear title to the property 
acquired by their government, and they have an equal- 
ly clear equitable right to its enjoyment. 

The distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts 
has, it seems to me, fallen into another error. He 
reojards aoriculture as of little moment in the cata- 
logue of labor, but eulogized the manufacturing inter- 
ests to a degree which, I confess, startled me, coming 
even from a gentleman from that section of the coun- 
try. He drew a beautiful pictru-e of the triumph of 
man over nature, representing him as a demigod 
standing by the side of a running stream, and bidding 
it to do his labor, or employing as his agents all the 
elements in the material universe. In his eye, the 
wheel driving a thousand spindles is an object of far 
higher interest than outspread fields waving with 
grain. The demigod who commands the Penobscot, 
the Kennebeclc, the Merrimack, or the Connecticut, 
to saw timber, to make cloth, to grind corn, is far 
more noble, as well as potent, in his estimation, than 
the man who fells the forest, who lays bare the earth 
with the plowshare, and who gathers the abundance 
of the fields into his granaries. I would not under- 
value manufactures, nor any of the mechanic arts. 
The gentleman shall not surpass me in my admiration 
of human skill. I will visit with him all the facto- 
ries of New England. I will follow his lead along 
the rushing streams which set in motion all the busy 
machinery of his region. I will go Avith him into 
every workshop where art plies its unceasing toil, and 



172 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

I will rejoice over every sign of prosperity which 
meets us in our progress. But, sir, I will then ask 
him to go forth with me to the fields, to see them laid 
open for the reception of the precious seed, or white 
for the harvest ; I will bid him listen to the cheerful 
songs of labor that greet the ear, and I vnll then call 
on him to say with me that the earth presents no more 
beautiful spectacle than this, and that no employment 
is nobler than the simple, peaceful pursuit which God 
gave to man when he drove him out of Paradise. 
I do not desu^e to dis2:)arage any branch of industry, 
but I place agriculture highest in the scale of hmnan 
labor. But this great interest the gentleman seemed 
to overlook ; and because the cultivation of the soil 
by slave labor would, in his opinion, hinder the pros- 
perity of the territories where it is introduced, he 
would exclude this labor from them all. Proceeding 
on the idea that all the territorial possessions belong 
to the general government, and not to the states ; 
proceeding on the idea that in legislating for the Ter- 
ritories Congress must look to their w^elfare alone, he 
would exclude slavery, for the simple reason that 
slavery is not, in his judgment, suited to the highest 
development of then- resources. The planter, with 
his slaves, who seeks to enter the territory, belonging 
to him in common with the people of this whole coun- 
try, to cultivate the earth, is to be excluded, while the 
manufacturer is invited to take up his abode there, 
erect his buildings, and set his operatives to work. 
Why, this is the merest sophistry Avliich the world 
ever heard of. The calamity of our times is, that we 
have abandoned the great, broad, clear principles 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 173 

which distinguished the action of our fathers ; we are 
turning our eyes to new lights ; we are yielding our- 
selves up to philosophical speculations in all the de- 
partments of life, and patriotism is lost in a wild and 
erratic philanthropy. It is in this w^ay that we be- 
come alienated from each other. Let us recur to so- 
ber elementary principles, and suffer ourselves to be 
guided by those high and holy motives which ani- 
mated our fathers in the formation of this confeder- 
acy. 

But, sir, wdiile I contend for the right of the j^eople 
represented by me here, to take their property into 
the Territories of the United States, and enjoy it 
without molestation, I am ready to settle this great 
question in the spirit which has more than once saved 
this country. I do not ask every thing for the sec- 
tion of the country from which I come. I wish here 
to allude to a proposition which has recently been 
started, and which has been the topic of conversation 
for some days past in the other branch of Congress ; 
I speak of what is called "the Compromise BilL*" So 
far as I comprehend it, I unhesitatingly express my 
opposition to it; and if it should ever reach this 
House in its present shape, I shall cast my vote 
against it. 

The measure proposes to recognize and ratify the 
act of the Territorial Legislature of Oregon excluding 
slavery, and to leave the question in California and 
New Mexico to be decided by the courts under exist- 
ing laws. 

The question as to the existence of slavery in any 
part of the United States is a political question, and 



174 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

not a judicial question. It has always been treated 
as a political question. Wlien the question came up 
in the Convention which framed the Constitution, it 
is well known that conflicting views were entertained 
respecting it; it was then discussed as a political 
question, and it proved to be a very formidable one. 
It was disposed of finally by a compromise which en- 
tered into the formation of our political system — a 
compromise as wise as it was patriotic — a compro- 
mise which produced tranquillity then, and which de- 
serves to be studied now. 

Upon the admission of Missouri into the Union, 
this question was again regarded as a political ques- 
tion. The only barrier to the admission of that state 
was found in this question. A compromise was once 
more entered into — a compromise Avhich, it was be- 
lieved, was to be permanent, and which was regarded 
as binding upon the whole country, in letter and in 
spirit. It was a compromise which, in my judgment, 
sacrificed the just rights of the South, and of which 
the North should be the very last ever to complain. 

In obedience to its spirit, the South gave up a por- 
tion of Louisiana to frame non-slaveholding states ; 
yet the successors of the very men who agreed to the 
Missouri Compromise, and who stretched the line of 
36° 30' across an immense slaveholding territory, con- 
tend to-day that slavery shall be excluded from all 
territory not included within the limits of the states 
lying even south of that parallel. The doctrine now 
is, that "free soil must remain free." This is a mod- 
ern discovery, most opportunely made to suit the 
views of those who are engaged in this crusade against 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 175 



the South — a crusade which has not even misguided 
philanthropy to apologize for its excesses, but which 
aims to aggrandize the political power of the North. 
When Texas came into the Union, this question was 
again treated as a political question, and the Missouri 
Compromise line was once more recognized and ap- 
plied to that state. Yet it is j)roposed noAV to treat 
this question as a judicial one, and to subject the po- 
litical rights of the Southern States to the decision of 
the courts. Upon their construction of existing laws 
the whole question is to turn in California and New 
Mexico, while Oregon is absolutely surrendered. 

I object again to this "compromise," because it is 
no settlement of the question; it is simply an adjourn- 
ment of it. It leaves to Oregon the right to legislate 
for the exclusion of slavery, and it inhibits New Mex- 
ico and California from exercising any right whatev- 
er in regard to it — from legislating in any manner 
respecting slavery, while the claim of the owner to 
every slave which he introduces there is to be sub- 
jected to the decision of the courts upon laws as they 
now exist there. Is this a settlement of the ques- 
tion ? If it should be conceded that the courts would 
decide to admit slaves, and all legislation in respect 
to them is inhibited, who could hold his slaves when 
lie got there ? Where would be their patrol laws ? 
where their laws for the security of property ? where 
the law to enable the master to compel obedience on 
the part of his slave ? Is it not obvious that no de- 
cision made by the Supreme Court, before whom the 
question must finally come, would give satisfaction ? 
The agitation would go on ; it would grow fiercer ; 



17G REVIEW OF THE J'OLICY OF I'KESIDENT POLK. 

it woiild (Jusli its furious surges against tJic liighest 
judicial tribuual of the country. If the decision 
should Ix- liivorable to the Soutlj, who can measure 
the extent of dissatisfaction whicli wouhl pervade the 
North? The decision wouhl disch>se to the advo- 
cates of the restrictive clauses that the laws of New 
Mexico and California tolerated slavery, and tliey 
wouhl feel jnore ])Owerfully lliuji ever l)efore the ne- 
cessity of pressing their measure. But if the decis- 
ion should he favora])le t(j tlie Nortli, as it is ahnost 
universally conceded it would l)e, how could we face 
oin- constituents after Juiving given our suj>j>ort to a 
l)ill wJiicli sui-rendered the \iiry rights we were ex- 
pected to guard? No, sii'; this is no settlement of 
th^s alarming question ; the agitation will go on. I 
desire a compromise, earnestly desire it, but that com- 
promise must l)e a settlement of tlie question. If I 
yield uj) any of the rights of those who have sent me 
liere to represent them, and who honor me with their 
confidence, I must know the full extent of the sacri- 
fice, and I must Jit least insur-e tranquillity wlien I 
make it. An arrangement which leaves all tlie ques- 
tions in dispute unsettled, all the difficulties and dan- 
gers still threatening, can never receive my suppoit. 
There is but one way to settle this question : that is, 
to treat it as a political question. It must Ixi met 
openly, frankly, and in a patriotic spirit. We must 
act with firmness ; we must not shrink from the re- 
sponsibility of our position; we must inquire what 
is wise, wliat is equital)le. Let the interests of all 
the states of tliis conrederacy be regarded, and let us 
come right \ip to a line and adhere to it. It so hap- 



KEVIEW OF THE I'OLICY 0¥ i^KEBIDENT POLK. 177 

period tliat, at the last ^esfiion of CongresB, I acidrehs- 
od the Jloima immediatfjy after Mr. Prest/jn ICirjg 
brought in his refjolutiori in favor of a jnear-ure uow 
known as the Wilrnot Proviso. I then said, 

"If this scheme of ac^j^uiring t/r-rxitory is persist/^*] 
in, and the power of this ^overnnient is brought to 
l>ear upon it so as to exclude slavery from every part 
of it, it must Ixi s^;;en by all who liave Ixsstowe^l any 
ref^/x^ion on the history of the organization and prog- 
ress of our political sj'stern, that the most sf;rious, I 
may say disastrous, results M-ill follow. This tJnion 
can only s-tand on those compromises which I regard 
in their sacrfr^i obligation as second only to the C<m- 
stitution. The compromise which has already taken 
plaoi on the Miijsoui-i question was sufficiently disad- 
vantageous to the Soutli. * * If t/irritory is t<^ Ixi 
acr^uiredj h:^ it Ix; subjt^ct^::!^! tf> compromises which 
have been already form/id. I do not wish for any 
violation of the Missouri Compromise. I>,'t it stand 
in letter and spirit. L(:rt the line upon which it runs 
be extende<l to the Pa<;ific Ocean.'*' 

I am willing to abide by it this day. I know tljiat 
it gives up to the North the most valuable portion 
of the tx;rritor}', but I am not willing to distJxrb a Jine 
which is alread}' drawn. Spreaxl out the map, and 
>'ou will see that Montere\'. San Francisco, the mouth 
of the Columbia Ri\'er — in short, almost all tliat is 
valuable in our latxi acquisitions on the Paciftc coast, 
lie nonli of the parallel of '^iQ'-^ <»r/. We sliall, how- 
ever, by a settlement on that line, be able to ascertain 
what our rights are ; and I do not think a lijxiit which 
has the sanction of prec^^dent, and which se^ims v> 

M 



178 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

bound the region where slave labor is likely to be 
employed profitably, would be disturbed. 

The question must be settled upon some terms; 
the country is in danger. I am amazed that gentle- 
men do not see it. I will not question the patriotism 
of any gentleman for a moment. I can not conceive 
that one calling himself an American can entertain 
a malignity so dark as to desire to wrap this glorious 
structure under which we live in the fires of a con- 
suming conflagration. But this question does involve 
the country in immense, immeasurable peril. It ought 
to be settled at this time so that it can never be re- 
vived again. The President has brought this danger 
upon us, and we must rescue the country from it. 
The Constitution must be brought out of the perils 
which surround and threaten it. As its old name- 
sake once was, it is now on a lee shore; it must be 
saved. Turn its prow once more upon the broad, 
open, and peaceful sea ; fling out from its tallest mast 
the old flag which had so long floated over it ; let the 
whole world see every star in the constellation ; tear 
away from the helm him who has been either too fee- 
ble to guide it, or too faithless to execute his trust, 
and ])lace there a man whose great heart has always 
beat true to his country, and whose strong arm will 
keep us in our course, no matter what adverse currents 
we may meet, or what storms may burst upon us. 
No mere partisan can settle this question. We must 
bring to the presidency a man in whose patriotism 
the whole country has confidence. A mere politician, 
thrown up by the dark and turbid waters of party, 
has no moral power over a question of this sort. He 



PEVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 179 

must be a man tried in the presence of danger — a 
man whose courage never flinches on the battle-field, 
in the council-chamber, or in the executive chair. 

Having thus shown the results of the foreign pol- 
icy of the administration — a policy which turned the 
country out of its prosperous and peaceful career, and 
which has brought upon it a large j^ublic debt and a 
most formidable internal question, I desire to look to 
the future. Shall the government go on as it has 
been carried on for the few past years, or shall it be 
turned upon a new, high, and pacific course ? This is 
a question which addresses itself to every American 
citizen. We are just entering into a contest which 
involves the most important results. Never did men 
strike for a nobler cause than that which now em- 
ploys the energies of the Whigs of the United States. 
We are true to the great princij^les which distinguish- 
ed the Whigs who first bore the name. They strug- 
gled against Charles, who brought all the influence 
of the cro^\Ti to bear against the representatives of 
the people. It was a battle between kingly power 
and the Parliament of England. Guided by the ad- 
vice of such men as Buckingham and Strafibrd, the 
king exerted all his strength in the effort to keep down 
the spirit of popular liberty in his dominions. On 
one occasion, when displeased with the jDroceedings 
of the House of Commons, he sent for the Journal, 
and with his ovm royal hand tore out the off*ensive 
record. That was one instance of expunging. A 
scheme is going on in this country by which popular 
rights and the popular will are likely to be less po- 
tent here than they are to-day in England. It is 



180 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

worth while to remember that the struggle Avhich be- 
gan there between the monarch and the people ended 
in overthrowing the royal omnipotence, and in erect- 
ing barriers about the rights of the people which have 
never since been borne down. 

It is significant enough that Buckingham fell a vic- 
tim to the popular indignation, and Strafford, though 
the king was pledged to protect him, did not escape 
the scaffold; he laid down his head, exclaiming, "Put 
not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, for 
in them there is no salvation." Even Charles him- 
self, after a protracted struggle with his people, was 
compelled to lay down his own anointed head on the 
block in front of Whitehall, and the axe of the exe- 
cutioner struck it off. 

There are great principles which are essential to 
liberty; it can not exist without them. These the 
Whigs seek to preserve. 

The very first of these principles is resistance to 
executive power. It is a singular fact that the party 
styling itself Democratic seeks to clothe the President 
with almost royal attributes ; it sustains him in all 
his assumptions of authority — in all his usm^pations 
of power. When defeated in a body representing the 
people, this party calls on the President to come to 
its aid with his veto. Who that witnessed it can ever 
forget the humiliating spectacle exhibited in this hall 
but a few days since? The representatives of the 
people, in the exercise of their legislative duty, hav- 
ing inserted in a bill on its way through this house 
an appropriation of money for an object which, it 
Avas understood, would not meet executive favor, were 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 181 

actually threatened with the veto of the President ; 
and it is by no means certain that we shall yet es- 
cape it. "What is popular liberty worth if the rep- 
resentatives of the people can not vote an appropria- 
tion of the money of the people for a perfectly prop- 
er national object without finding their legislation ar- 
rested by the interposition of the executive will? Ac- 
cording to the Democratic creed, the President is the 
mere head of a party ; measures passed by the rep- 
resentatives of the people are to be arrested by his 
veto ; schemes agreed on by his party, however odious 
to the people, are to be carried through by all the in- 
fluence of executive patronage. 

The President occupies a great position in our po- 
litical system. He should sit poised between the 
j^arties; but this modern creed makes him a mere 
j)artisan chief, and invites him to unite with the mi- 
nority to defeat the action of the majority of the rep- 
resentatives of the people, just as in royal govern- 
ments the monarch is often in league with his own 
creatiu'es against the popular sentiment. 

It is important to comprehend the true relations 
between the executive and Congress. His functions 
are defined by the Constitution, and the reasons for 
conferring them are to be found in the sj)eeches and 
writings of the men who created our political system. 
Patrick Henry's opposition to the executive feature 
of our political system is well known ; and if he could 
have lived to this day, he would have seen how fully 
his apprehensions were realized. The President of 
the United States should rise to a just conception of 
the duties of his exalted station, and he should aim 



182 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

to discharge them in an eminently patriotic spirit. 
No horizon less than that which embraces the whole 
country should limit his vision, and he should scru- 
pulously forbear to transcend the authority which 
belonf»;s to him in his ""reat office. In the Constitu- 
tion, the powers of each department of the govern- 
ment are clearly defined. These powers are distrib- 
uted: the legislative power, which is first named, is 
vested in Congress; the executive power is vested in 
the President; and the judicial power is vested in 
the Supreme Court and such otlier courts as Congress 
may establish. The harmony of our system can only 
be preserved by a strict observance of this distribu- 
tion of powers. The duty of tlie President is to exe- 
cute the laws, not to make them ; he is, from time to 
time, to give to Congress information of the state of 
the Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expe- 
dient. His duty being thus discharged, he is to await 
the action of Congress ; and when a bill is presented 
to him, he must sign it, or, if he disapprove it, must 
return it with his objections. It is then in the power 
of Congress to j)ass the bill thus objected to by a vote 
of two thirds. 

Now it is important to inquire into the reasons for 
conferring on the President this power of returning 
bills passed by Congress. Is the j^ower arbitrary, 
or is it oidy to be exerted in certain cases which de- 
mand the solemn interposition of the executive veto? 
It will be found, on looking into the history of the 
government, that the great consideration which in- 
duced the framers of the Constitution to mYO, this 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 183 

power to the President was to enable liini to protect 
the executive department; and it was certainly in- 
tended, also, as a check upon improper legislation. 
It is stated by Alexander Hamilton, in No. 73 of the 
Federalist : 

"The propensity of the legislative department to 
intrude upon the rights and to absorb the powers of 
other departments has already been more than once 
suggested; the insufficiency of a mere parchment de- 
lineation of the boundaries of each has also been re- 
marked upon ; and the necessity of furnishing each 
with constitutional arms for its own defense has been 
inferred and proved. From these clear and indubi- 
table principles results the propriety of a negative, 
either absolute or qualified, in the executive, upon 
the acts of the legislative branches. Without the 
one or the other, the former Avould be absolutely un- 
able to defend himself against the depredations of 
the latter. He might gradually be stripped of his 
authorities by successive resolutions, or annihilated 
by a single vote; and, in the one naode or the other, 
the legislative and executive powers might speedily 
come to be blended in the same hands. If even no 
propensity had ever discovered itself in the legislative 
body to invade the rights of the executive, the rules 
of just reasoning and theoretic propriety would of 
themselves teach us that the one ought not to be left 
at the mercy of the other, but ought to possess a con- 
stitutional and effectual power of self-defense. But 
the power has a further use; it not only serves as a 
shield to the executive, but it furnishes an additional 
security against the enaction of improper laws." 



184 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

This is the reasoning which Mr. Hamilton resorted 
to in vindication of a power Avhich, when it was con- 
ferred on the President, startled the Republicans of 
that day. It proves satisfactorily that the power 
was designed to be used as a defensive one, and not 
as an aggressive one. We all see that the legislative 
and the executive powers are coming to be blended 
in the same hands, but is it by the encroachment of 
the legislative upon the executive department of the 
o-overnment? 

o 

Mr. Hamilton adds: 

"The primary inducement to conferring the pow- 
er in question upon the executive is to enable him 
to defend himself; the secondary is to increase the 
chances in favor of the community against the pass- 
ing of bad laws, through haste, inadvertence, or de- 
sign. * * ''' ''' The superior weight and influ- 
ence of the legislative body in a free government, and 
the hazard to the executive in a trial of strength with 
that body, afford a satisfactory security that the neg- 
ative would generally be employed with great cau- 
tion, and that in its exercise there would oftener be 
room for a charge of timidity than of rashness. A 
king of Great Britain, with all his train of sovereign 
attributes, and with all the influence he draws from 
a thousand sources, would, at this day, hesitate to 
put a negative upon the joint resolutions of the two 
houses of Parliament. '^ * * A very considera- 
ble period has elapsed since the negative of the crown 
has been exercised." 

Now, sir, I appeal to the country, and I ask. Have 
our late presidents exerted this power in this spirit? 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 185 

Have they shown any reluctance to employ it? Is 
the legislation of Congress as independent and unbi- 
ased as it ought to be? Are not the personal opin- 
ions of the executive too much consulted? When the 
President returned, with his objections, the French 
Spoliation Bill, he was guilty of a clear encroachment 
on the rights of Congress. There was not a single 
principle involved in that bill calling for the execu- 
tive veto. It was a mere act of executive authority 
when he refused to sign a bill which had received the 
votes of large majorities in both branches of Con- 
gress, on full discussion, and against which there was 
no constitutional objection. 

Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution, 
concurs in the views stated by Mr. Hamilton in the 
Federalist as to the reasons for conferring this pow- 
er on the President. In the 13th chapter of his third 
book the subject is fully considered, and the first and 
main reason assigned for it is "the constitutional ne- 
cessity of arming the executive with powers for its 
own defense, to prevent the President from becoming, 
what it is well known the governors of some of the 
states are, a mere pageant and shadow of magistracy. "" 
A full examination of the debates on the Constitu- 
tion, and of the writings of other able commentators, 
to which I have not time to refer, would strengthen 
the views which I have presented, and clearly show 
how widely our later presidents have departed from 
the principles and the examples of earlier times. 
From the day when the Roman tribune took his seat 
at the entrance of the senate chamber, and arrested 
the decrees of that body by the word "veto,'" up to 



186 REVIEW OP THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

the present hour, there have been more instances of 
its arbitrary exercise by the President of the United 
States, standing at the head of a modern republican 
government, than the Avhole history of nations besides 
can show. Mr. Burke, in his letter to the sheriffs of 
Bristol, remarks, 

"The king's negative to bills is one of the most 
undisputed of the royal prerogatives, and it extends 
to all cases whatsoever. I am far from certain that, 
if several laws Avhich I know had fallen under the 
stroke of that sceptre, the public would have had a 
very great loss. But it is not the propriety of the 
exercise which is in question ; the exercise itself is 
wisely forborne. Its repose may be the preservation 
of its existence, and its existence may be the means 
of saving the Constitution itself on an occasion wor- 
thy of bringing it forth.'* 

This is the language of Edmund Burke, a man dis- 
tinguished as much for his regard for the rights of 
the people as for his genius and his learning. The 
exercise of this great power is, in the British govern- 
ment, wisely forborne ; it has not been employed in 
England since 1692. 

But, sir, there are other considerations involved in 
the political contest now going on in the country. 
The Democratic party is committed to a policy which 
leads to aggression, war, and conquest, while the 
"Whigs desire to preserve peace with all the world, to 
stimulate the industry, and to develop the resources 
of the country. California and New Mexico are ours, 
and costly acquisitions avc must admit them to be ; 
Yucatan has barely escaped our grasp ; and what 



REVIEW OP THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 187 

other neighboring provinces are next to be overrun, 
and conquered, and annexed, no man can tell. Our 
true jDolicy is j^eace. We are set apart by a dividing 
ocean from the Old World ; we have nothing to do 
with its complicated system ; we have no balance of 
power to preserve — no intervention to make in the 
affairs of other nations. We should desire friendly 
relations with every people, entangling alliances "with 
none. When the rights or the honor of the country 
demand it, we Avill go to war, as we have done t^vice 
with Great Britain ; but war is too great a calamity, 
and too much opposed to the principles of Christian 
civilization for any insufficient cause. With the bless- 
ing of God, we shall advance rapidly enough in a career 
of peace. Our political system is at once great and 
economical ; it should be kept so. We need never go to 
war to extend our territory or to increase our wealth 
and power. Patrick Henry said, in the true Ameri- 
can spirit, ' ' Those nations which have gone forth in 
search of grandeur, power, and splendor, have also 
fallen a sacrifice and been victims to their own folly." 

I was struck last summer "with an article which 
met my eye in one of the best Keviews of our day, a 
French Beview, "La Revue des Deux Mondes,"in 
which the writer says, 

"The sj)ectacle which North America offers us to- 
day is nothing less than the whole of the New Con- 
tinent learnino; to recosrnize its masters in the Anglo- 
Americans, in education ; and the simple and beau- 
tiful Constitution of 1789, aft j half a century only 
of existence, extending an influence under which all 
m.ust come, sooner or later." 



188 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

This great triumph, if we are true to our principles, 
will be accomplished without arms. 

Which of these two parties, holding these opposing 
sentiments, will control the government ? The fate 
of this country and the peace of the world depend on 
the issue. It is almost as if the direct question of 
peace or war were put to the people. 

The two candidates who are presented to the coun- 
try for the high office of the presidency represent pre- 
cisely the ideas which I have endeavored to exhibit 
as belonging to the two j)arties. 

General Cass is the very embodiment of the ag- 
gressive tendencies of the Democratic party. When 
has he ever been found on the side of peace ? When 
did he ever advocate moderation ? Was it when the 
Oregon question was before the country ? He stood 
out against the adjustment of that question to the last 
moment. He contended for the boundary of 54° 40^ 
When the country demanded a settlement upon the 
barrier of 49°, he would have involved two great 
Christian and kindred nations in war rather than 
yield up a portion of remote territory which had long 
been in dis^^ute. What would have been the result 
if he had then been President? He displayed the 
same spirit Avhen the Mexican question came up. 
He was eager for war — would not listen to sober 
counsels, but brought all his influence to bear against 
the wise and pacific policy of Mr. Calhoun. But on 
territorial acquisitions he would " swallow the whole 
of Mexico." He earnestly advocated the scheme of 
pouring our troops into Yucatan, and was ready to 
seize Cuba upon the slightest pretext. He, day after 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 189 

day, urged the adoption of the Ten Hegiment Bill when 
peace was at hand, and by that single measure would 
have involved the country in a useless expenditure 
of three millions of dollars. His public character is 
well known in Europe. An eminent British states- 
man has sketched it with surprising fidelity. Lord 
Brougham, in his speech in the House of Lords on 
the Ashburton treaty, said, in reference to the alarm- 
ing crisis through which England and America had 
just passed, 

' ' It was thus rendered inevitably certain that, if 
any mischance had happened to peace in Europe — if 
any war, or any thing like war, had broken out on 
this side of the Atlantic, one spark of that fire which 
would then have broken out in the Old World, borne 
across the ocean, would have kindled the train, thus 
ready laid to exj)lode, extended this flame to America, 
and involved the New World as well as the Old in 
endless w^ar. And if I am asked whether there was 
any likelihood of that spark being flung off*, I must 
refer, though I am loath to broach any matters but 
those immediately under discussion, to a man exist- 
ing in France, who may be said to have been, and 
still to be, the impersonation of hostile feeling, the 
promoter of discord between America and England." 

Lord Brougham proceeded to name General Cass 
as this man, and to describe his character and course 
in terms which I forbear to quote, because I do not 
concm' in some of his sentiments. I refer to this 
speech to show that General Cass's belligerent quali- 
ties are as well known in Europe as they are in Amer- 
ica. Such, sir, is General Cass, and it is not easy to 



190 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

imagine how the government could be intrusted to 
more dangerous hands. 

I turn with pleasure to the candidate of the "Whig 
party, General Taylor, great as a soldier, and greater 
yet as a man. His life has been passed in the camp, 
and yet he regards "war at all times and under all 
circumstances as a national calamity, to be avoided, 
if compatible Avith the national honor. " There is noth- 
ing of a boastful spirit in this beautiful language. 
It is the sentiment of one who knows what war is, 
and who knows how to estimate the cost of even the 
most brilliant victories. Nor is he ambitious of con- 
quests ; he comprehends the true glory of his coun- 
try, and sees that its prosperity is to be advanced by 
adopting a magnanimous and pacific policy in our 
intercourse with other nations. "The prwcz^^es of 
our government, as well as its true policy^ is opposed 
to the subjugation of other nations, and the dismem- 
berment of other countries by conquest.'" His idea 
of the relation between the executive and Congress 
is singularly clear and just, and is admirably ex- 
pressed: 

"The personal opinions of the individual who may 
happen to occupy the executive chair ought not to 
control the action of Congress upon questions of do- 
mestic policy, nor ought his objections to be inter- 
posed where questions of constitutional power have 
been settled by the various departments of govern- 
ment, and acquiesced in by the people." 

In a single letter he has shed the clearest light 
upon a subject to which I have already referred; I 
mean, sir, the power conferred on the President to 



' REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PKESIDENT POLK, 191 

arrest the legislation of " Congress by the interposition 
of his veto : 

"The power given by the Constitution to the ex- 
ecutive to interpose his veto is a high conservative 
power, but, in my opinion, should never be exercised 
except in cases of clear violation of the Constitution, 
or manifest haste and want of consideration by Con- 
gress. " 

Such are General Taylor's opinions, and they will 
commend themselves to the people of this whole 
country. His conception of the dignity, the respon- 
sibility, and the duties of the executive, his respect 
for the legislative powers of Congress, and his readi- 
ness to obey the j^oj^ular will within the limits of the 
Constitution, show him to be eminently qualified for 
the gi^eat trust which we wish to commit to his hands. 
His position is a noble one. Without solicitation 
on his part, he has been brought before the country 
as a candidate for the first office in the government, 
and such is the confidence in his integrity that no 
pledges are demanded from him. The strongest 
pledge which the country can have is to be found in 
his own great qualities. Unselfish and unambitious, 
he yields himself to the call of his countrjmien ; he 
has, no private purposes to accomplish, no party pro- 
jects to build up, no enemies to punish — nothing to 
serve but his country. His great character is glori- 
ously exhibited in his military career. We are at a 
loss whether to admire most his faithful discharge of 
every duty, his genius and courage in battle, or the 
humanity which impelled him, when the battle was 
over, to minister to suffering. The eagles of his 



192 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

country have never known defeat when borne by him. 
There is a self-reliance about him — a consciousness 
of strength — a determination to drive his enemy be- 
fore him, which makes an army under his command 
invincible. Cromwell was accustomed to ride down 
at the head of his Ironsides against the most for- 
midable hosts, and dash against them like a living 
avalanche which nothing could resist ; and, like him, 
Taylor, with his strong will, his iron purpose, and his 
unflinching courage, has, at the head of a few well- 
trained American troops, driven before him powerful 
armies. Perha|3s in the history of the world the 
power of a single will was never more triumphantly 
exhibited than it was at Buena Yista. Taylor had 
been advised to fall back for safety on Monterey. 
Stripped of some of his best troops — far advanced in 
the enemy''s country, with an army numbering only 
about four thousand, and but one tenth of them reg- 
ulars — with no reserved force to support him — with 
the intelligence brought in that Santa Anna, at the 
head of twenty thousand men, was marching against 
him, there he took his position in a gorge of the 
Sierra Madre, and determined to meet the shock of 
battle. If we desire to know what thoughts occu- 
pied the mind of the American commander when he 
took that responsibility, we have only to open a let- 
ter written to a friend the evening before the battle. 
Comprehending the danger of his position, and con- 
scious that a great struggle awaited him, he commits 
to writins: the sentiments which filled his heart: 

" This may be the last communication you will re- 
ceive from me. I have been stripped by the govern- 



REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 193 

ment of regular troops, and reduced in volunteers ; 
and thus stripped, and at the mercy of the foe, I have 
been expected by my country to retreat or resign. 
But I shall do neither. I care not for myself, but 
I feel deeply for the noble soldiers who are about to 
be sacrificed by their country. We shall stand and 
give them battle, relying on a just Providence for a 
right result." 

No, sir, he would neither retreat nor resign ; he 
would fight. There flashed forth a great spirit : the 
battle came ; the odds were fearful, but who could 
doubt the result when American troops stood in that 
modern Thermopylae, and in the presence of such a 
leader ? It was in vain that Mexican artillery j)lay- 
ed upon their ranks, or Mexican infantry bore down 
with the bayonet, or Mexican lancers charged. The 
spirit of the great leader pervaded the men who fought 
with him, and a single glance of his eye could reani- 
mate a wavering column. Like Napoleon at the 
Danube, he held his men under fire because he was 
exposed to it himself; and, like him, wherever he rode 
along the lines, mounted on a white charger, a con- 
spicuous mark for balls, men would stand and be shot 
down, but they would not give way. Of Taylor on 
that day it may be said, as it has been said of Lannes 
at Montebello, "He was the rock of that battle-field 
around which men stood with a tenacity that nothing 
could move. If he had fallen, in five minutes that 
battle would have been a rout." That battle closed 
General Taylor's military career, and that battle alone 
gives him a title to immortality. His country will 
now need his services at home. There are other gen- 

N 



194 REVIEW OF THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT POLK. 

erals to whom she may commit her armies ; there is 
but one to whom she will intrust the government. 

It is a glorious spectacle to see such a man called 
to administer the government: he rises far above 
party; he looks into the oj^en Constitution for his 
guide. Men of all creeds welcome him, and invoke 
God's blessing upon him in his great task. With a 
slight change of words, we may apply to him the cel- 
ebrated prophecy which hailed the advent of a Brit- 
ish sovereign whose reign opened under auspices 
promising to advance the glory and prosperity of the 
realm : 

" In his days every man shall eat in safety 
Under his own vine what he plants, and sing 
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbors." 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITO- 
RIES—THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH, 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 10th, 1849. 

The House being in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, and 
having under consideration the bill providing governments for the new Terri- 
tories, and in respect to slavery therein, Mr. Hilliard said, 

Mr. Chairman, — I shall follow the example of the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr, Preston), who address- 
ed the committee a day or two since, and proceed at 
once to give my views of the importance of establish- 
ing a government for the inhabitants of the territory 
recently acquired from Mexico, based upon principles 
which seem to me to be perfectly proper in them- 
selves, and which promise tranquillity to the whole 
country. I am not insensible to the importance of 
this question. A question of greater magnitude has 
not come wp in our time ; and in addressing myself 
to it, I shall endeavor, so far as may be proper, to 
lose sight of my allegiance to party or section ; I 
shall hope to treat it as a great American question. 

In my judgment, the transfer of that territory to 
the United States has devolved on us an important 
duty — a. duty which we can neither overlook nor neg- 
lect. We are in full and undisturbed possession of 
an extensive region, which was subjected to our arms 
during the late war Avith Mexico, and which has since 
been ceded to us by a treaty concluded with that re- 



196 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

public, the ratifications of which were exchanged at 
Queretaro on the 30th of May, 1848. By the terms 
of that treaty^ the government of the United States 
is bound to pay to that of Mexico fifteen millions of 
dollars, and also to assume and jiay to the claimants 
all the amounts which may be due to them by reason 
of the claims already liquidated and decided against 
the Mexican republic, under the conventions hereto- 
fore held between that government and our own, as 
well as certain other demands which our citizens may 
have against the Mexican government, not exceeding 
three and a quarter millions of dollars. 

Now, sir, this territory, for the cession of which we 
have undertaken to make these payments, is, as I have 
already observed, in our possession ; our people are 
at this moment engaged in gathering the rich treas- 
ures wdiich its mines yield. It has been wrested from 
Mexico ; it can never be restored to her. I can see 
no mode of escape from the payment of this debt. 
In my judgment, the national honor is involved in 
making the payment which the treaty ]3rovides for ; 
and though I most reluctantly differ from some of 
my friends who have already expressed themselves 
on this point, I am compelled to say, that while I 
clearly recognize the right of this House to partici- 
pate, to a certain extent, in the negotiations carried 
on by the other branches of the government, so far, 
at least, as the granting the necessary appropriations 
to perfect these negotiations is concerned — holding 
this doctrine, clearly admitting it, being quite ready 
to allow that cases might come up where I should be 
in favor of exerting that right on the part of the 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 197 

House, yet, under the present circumstances, I could 
not, under my obligations as a member of the Amer- 
ican Congress, vote to withhold from Mexico the j)ay- 
ment of the sum Avhich we are bound by the treaty 
to make. A territory torn from a feeble government, 
now in our full possession, forever separated from the 
republic to which it belonged, must be paid for. To 
refuse it would be to expose ourselves to the charge 
of national repudiation in a very offensive sense. 
Whether we give or withhold a government, the ter- 
ritory must be paid for in perfect good faith. I hold 
this to be our first duty. 

Again, sir, I think w^e ought to provide a govern- 
ment for the inhabitants of that territory with as lit- 
tle delay as possible. Numbers of our OAvn jDCople 
have already gone there, others are on their wa}^, and 
these Avill need our protection. By looking into the 
treaty, especially at the ninth article, it will be seen, 
too, that we have undertaken to protect those Mexi- 
cans who, by remaining in the ceded territory, have 
become citizens of the United States, in the full en- 
joyment of their liberty and property. How can we 
discharge this duty if we do not provide a govern- 
ment for them ? How can we protect them, unless 
we extend over them our jurisdiction and authority ? 
I say, then, that our first duty is to pay for this ter- 
ritory, and our next to j^rovide a government for its 
inhabitants. We ought to do both as speedily as 
may be. 

Heretofore, every attempt to provide a government 
for this territory has j^roved fruitless. An import- 
ant question involved in it has baffled the wisest 



198 GOVERNMENTS FOE THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

counsels. Before proceeding to give my own ide^s 
of this great question, which I shall do with diffi- 
dence^ but at the same time with entire earnestness 
and candor, I shall recur to a liistory of the attempts 
which have been made to settle it. 

It will be remembered that some time during the 
last session of Congress, a distinguished senator from 
Delaware (Mr. Clapton) brought forward in the Sen- 
ate a measure named by its friends the Compromise 
Bill, which undertook to dispose of the question. 
Tliat bill sought to establish a territorial government 
for the inhabitants of that territory, without making 
any provision for the adjustment of the conflicting 
claims of the North and the South, but turned them 
over to the judicial tribunals of the coimtry, to as- 
certain the extent of their privileges. It passed the 
Senate after an interesting debate, and came to this 
House, w^here, upon the motion of my friend from 
Georgia (Mr. Stephens), Avho sits before me, animated 
by the most patriotic motives, as I have never doubt- 
ed, by n vote of 112 to 97, it was laid on the table. 
Tlie proposition fiiiled. There existed too great a 
conflict of opinion as to its eflccts to allow the hope 
that it would settle the question. It would have 
divided opinion throughout the country still more 
wndely, ranging the Northern jind the Southern 
states as contestants before the Supreme Court. 

The second attempt to settle this question appeared 
in an amendment moved b}^ a senator from Illinois 
(Mr. Douglass^ for whom I entertain a, high respect. 
He proposed to attach to the Oregon Bill, then be- 
fore the Senate, an amendment, extending the Mis- 



COVEKXMKNTS FOK TUK NtW TEKKITOKIES. 109 

souri Coiupromiso lino to the Ptioitlo Ocoan, iu the 
Siuuo souse andwitU the same understanding in wliieh 
ir was originally adopted, applying it to all territory 
now belouiiing to, or hereafter to be aequired bv the 
I'nited States. That proposition eanie to this 
House, and >vas here rejeeted b}- a vote ot* 8'J tor and 
l-l against it. The bill went back to the Senate; 
that body receded tVoni its aniendnient ; the Oivgou 
Bill was passed without this reeognitiou ot' the eom- 
proniise litie: it received the signature of the IVesi- 
dent, taking away tVoni this nieasinv one great eUv 
ment ot' adjustment, ot' which it should never have 
been deprived, and this ^nestiou is still open, ^ow 
I desire to say that, iu my humble judgnu^ut, that 
would have been a pert'ectly fair settlement of this 
great question. The line which it proposed to stretch 
to the Pacitic Ocean was a marked line. It had a 
historical ueight about it. It had the sanction of 
patriotic example. It would luiNe disposed forever 
not only of the present question, but of all kindred 
questions. The House (lunight proper to reject it, 
and, v^t' course, I must acquiesce in that decision. 

There is another ipiestion directly comieeted with 
this of which 1 have been speaking, on which I d«.^ 
sire to otVer some n iews, and whicli ought also to be 
settled. By tlie joint resoliuiou of March I, 1845, 
admitting TVxas as a state into this I'nion, or, 
nither, providing for her annexation to the I nited 
States, it was enacted that the state shoidd be t'orui- 
ed, subject to the adjustment by this government ot" 
all questions ot' bouudar\- tiiat might arise with other 
goverinuents. Now it is pert'ectlv well known that 



200 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

Texas liad a disputed question of boundary with 
Mexico at the time of her admission. That state, by 
an act of her own Congress of December, 1836, de- 
clared her western boundary to be the Rio Grande, 
the whole extent of it from its mouth to its source, 
and thence due north to the forty-second degree of 
north latitude. We annexed Texas, claiming that 
boundary, and we undertook to settle her quarrel 
with Mexico. An attempt to do this by negotiation 
fiiiled. A resort was had to arms. The government 
of the United States proceeded to urge our right to 
the country embraced within the limits of Texas, 
thus defined, against Mexico. Now it will be very 
well remembered that we claimed the country border- 
ing on the Rio Grande as our own soil, through no 
other rio-ht than that which we had derived from 
Texas. We sent our troops there to occupy that 
territory, distinctly on the ground that it was em- 
braced within the limits of the Republic of Texas, 
which, having been annexed to the United States, 
devolved on us the duty of protecting its soil from 
violation. On the very banks of the Rio Grande 
the battles of the 8th and 9tli of May were fought ; 
and here I can not forbear to say that the crowning 
victory of that second day, as Cromwell Avould have 
called it, not only shed its undying lustre upon the 
American flag, but disclosed to our eyes one who 
has never since been lost sight of — one who, having 
earned upon successive battle-fields a military fame 
which gives him rank with the greatest captains of 
any age, is about to enter on a career which will 
cover him with as much civic glory. 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 201 

Whatever may be thought of the claim of Texas to 
the Rio Grande as her western boundary, as against 
Mexico, it must be seen that her claim, to the full ex- 
tent of her limits, as against the United States, rests 
on the strongest ground. Om* late treaty with Mex- 
ico has put us in undisputed possession of every foot 
of the territory claimed by Texas in her contest with 
that republic. The western boundary claimed by 
Texas before her annexation to the United States — 
a boundary which this government, after her annex- 
ation, undertook to assert and to secure by negotia- 
tion, and, failing in that, occupied and held by force ; 
a boundary which we have compelled Mexico to ad- 
mit, must be the boundary of Texas as one of the 
states of this Union. There is no longer a party left 
to dispute this boundary. Having extinguished the 
claim of Mexico, Texas is left with a clear title to the 
full extent of the limits which she defined and assert- 
ed as against that republic. The government of the 
United States can not appropriate to its own use any 
part of the disputed territory. It reserved the right 
to adjust questions touching the boundaries of Tex- 
as with other governments. The only question of 
boundary in which Texas was interested has been 
settled by us in our late treaty with Mexico, and 
this government is now estopj^ed from saying any 
thing against the claim of Texas to the boundary 
which she originally marked out for herself. So 
clear is this, that the President of the United States, 
in a special message sent to this House in July last, 
distinctly and fully admits the claim of Texas in all 
its extent. I very well remember that a gentleman 



202 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

from Kentucky (Mr. Duncan) addressed an argument 
to the House last summer, a short time before the ad- 
journment of Congress, in which he maintained the 
claim of Texas to her western boundary in the most 
clear, satisfactory, and convincing manner ; it is an 
argument which I think any gentleman holding dif- 
ferent opinions will find it difficult to answer. 

These two questions, then — that respecting the gov- 
ernment of the territory which we have acquired from 
Mexico, and that respecting the limits of Texas — are 
kindred questions; they ought to be settled at the 
same time, otherwise you transfer the dispute as to 
the boundaries of that state to the new state which 
you propose to form out of the territory which was 
involved in it while it constituted a part of Mexico. 
At this moment the subject is within your control. 
When states shall have been formed and admitted, 
it will cease to be so forever. I can conceive of no 
question more delicate or more difficult than that of 
deciding between the conflicting claims of sovereign 
states as to domain. Yet this is the very question 
which you are about to bring up, if, without defining 
the limits of Texas, you proceed to form or admit a 
new state, asserting its right to territory east of the 
Rio Grande. 

It is better to avoid this great question by wise 
legislation than to turn it over to the highest judicial 
tribunal in our country for its decision, after it shall 
have assumed the gravity of a dispute as to domain 
between two sovereign states of this Union. Let us 
give to the inhabitants of the territory which we have 
lately acquired a government ; let us declare and fix 
the limits of Texas. 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES, 203 

Not only are these kindred questions — they are dis- 
turbing questions. They have never ceased to excite 
us since the admission of Texas. Is this acritation, 

O 7 

I ask, to go onf There are persons who are deeply 
interested in keeping up this agitation. PrefeiTing 
tempest to tranquillity, they let loose the winds from 
their caves to blow upon the great deej) ; but, most 
fortunately, we, like Neptune, hold the trident which 
can still the wild waters, let the winds blow ever so 
fiercely. Shall we exert that j)ower, or shall we sit 
inactive in the midst of such a scene ? 

Having observed no disposition in any quarter of 
the House to move in a matter Avhich is certainly 
formidable enough, I brought forward two bills which 
I tendered to the House, and desired to submit to a 
select committee, which committee might give them 
a candid, thorough, patient examination, and report 
upon them. I did it because I believed there was 
merit enough in the proposition, if it could be fairly 
brought before the House, to give hope of its success. 
But before the proposition could be fairly exhibited 
— before even the whole plan could be presented, the 
most violent opposition was shown to it ; and being 
unwilling to suffer one 23art to go out unaccompanied 
by the other, I withdrew both bills, and shall offer 
them as a substitute for the bills reported from the 
Committee on Territories. 

I wish now briefly to explain the plan to which I 
have referred, and which I think the proper one for 
putting these questions forever at rest. I propose to 
authorize the people inhabiting that part of Califor- 
nia west of the Sierra Nevada to form a Constitution, 



204 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

and apply for admission as a state into this Union. 
The boundaries of that state would be these : lying 
on the Pacific, extending eastward to the summit of 
the Sierra Nevada range of mountains, it will have 
Oregon on the north, wdiile it will bend with the Si- 
erra Nevada range in a southwest direction, finding 
its southern limit at the parallel of 34° 30', where, 
from an inspection of the map, it will be observed, 
that range of mountains touches the Pacific Ocean. 
These are natural boundaries. The waters at the 
southern base of these mountains empty into ditFer- 
ent channels, parting as on a dividing ridge, and run- 
nino; northward and southward. Within these lim- 
its may be formed a state which, besides its great 
mineral wealth, its beautiful and fertile valleys, and 
its delightful climate, will o^vn the finest harbors on 
the Pacific coast. 

One of our own countrymen (Fremont), whose gen- 
ius and whose training eminently qualify him for 
the task of estimating the advantages of such a re- 
gion, and the fidelity of whose descriptions is unqu.es- 
tionable, says of that part of California, 

"West of the Sierra Nevada, and between that 
mountain and the sea, is the second grand division of 
California, and the only j^art to which the name ap- 
plies in the current language of the country. It is 
the occupied and inhabited 2)art, and so different in 
character, so divided by the mountain Avail of the Si- 
erra from the Great Basin above, as to constitute a 
region to itself, with a structure and configuration, a 
soil, climate, and productions of its own ; and as 
Northern Persia may be referred to as some type of 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 205 

the former, so may Italy be referred to as some point 
of comparison for the latter. North and south, the 
region embraces about ten degrees of latitude ; from 
32°, where it touches the peninsula of California, to 
42°, where it bounds on Oregon. East and west, 
from the Sierra Nevada to the sea, it will average, in 
the middle parts, one hundred and fifty miles ; in the 
northern parts, two hundred, giving an area of above 
one hundred thousand square miles. 

"Perhaps few parts of the world can produce in 
Such perfection so great a variety of fruits and grains 
as the large and various region inclosing the Bay of 
San Francisco, and drained by its waters. A view 
of the map Avill show that region and its great extent, 
comprehending the entire valleys of the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin, and the whole western slope of the 
Sierra Nevada." 

This will give us some idea of Avhat the State of 
California, with its appropriate boundaries, is likely 
to become. 

The territory not included within the limits of that 
state, nor embraced within the boundaries of Texas, 
as I propose to run them, may be governed in such 
manner as Congress may prescribe until it contains 
sufficient population for a state. 

In defining the limits of Texas, I would cut off 
from that state all her domain lying above the j^ar- 
allel of 36° 30' north latitude, a territory of great ex- 
tent, which, it has been well stated by the gentleman 
from Kentucky, to whom I have already alluded (Mr. 
Duncan), is conceded to be large enough to form at 



206 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

least two states. It is known to contain 43,537 
square miles. Let the northern boundary of Texas 
begin where the parallel of 36° 30' cuts her eastern 
boundary ; let it extend along that parallel, westward, 
to the summit of the Sierra Nevada mime of mount- 
ains, already fixed on as marking the eastern limits 
of the State of California, and thence follow those 
limits to the Pacific Ocean. I would grant to Texas 
all the territory lately acquired from Mexico south of 
the northern boundary which I have just sketched, 
subject to the conditions under which Texas was ad- 
mitted into the Union. The joint resolution for an- 
nexing Texas to the United States provides, among 
other things, that "new states of convenient size, not 
exceeding four in number, in addition to said State 
of Texas, and having sufficient population, may here- 
after, by consent of said state, be formed out of the 
territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission 
under the provisions of the Federal Constitution. 
And such states as may be formed out of that por- 
tion of said territory lying south of 36° 30' north 
latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compro- 
mise line, shall be admitted into the Union with or 
without slavery, as the people of each state asking 
admission may desire. And in such state or states 
as shall be formed out of such territory north of said 
Missouri Compromise line, slavery or involuntary 
servitude (excej^t for crimes) shall be prohibited." 

I would, of course, provide also that all public 
lands within the territory thus granted to Texas 
should be reserved to the United States. 

These are the creat features of the bills which I 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 207 

wish to submit for the consideration of the commit- 
tee, and they agree, in the main, Avith those of the ijill 
brought forward by the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Preston) ; at least, we both desire to relieve the 
inhabitants of the territory which is the subject of 
our legislation from territorial restraints as soon as 
they are in circumstances to form and maintain a 
state government. We differ upon the subject of 
boundaries: he would give the vast region which has 
been ceded to us by Mexico to the jurisdiction of the 
inhabitants now there, who are mainly concentrated 
in the neighborhood of San Francisco, and authorize 
them to create a state, stretching its authority over its 
whole extent, and regulating by its laws the right of 
property for the people who are already upon the 
soil, and who may hereafter make their abode there. 
Now, sir, I am quite ready to concede to the people 
of California proper — a community residing west of 
the Sierra Nevada — the right to form a state, with its 
proper boundaries, but I am not willing to allow 
them to stretch their jurisdiction along the Avhole 
Pacific coast, and embrace within their limits the 
whole extent of the vast region lying outside of those 
proper boundaries, settling in advance the great ques- 
tions now before the country, and deciding by their 
laws upon the rights of our citizens who may wish 
hereafter to reside there. 

If the people of California proper are ready to 
come into this Union as a state, let them come in ; 
the bill which I have the honor to submit provides 
for their admission. But why should the whole ter- 
ritory be subjected to their legislation ? The j'ight 



208 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

of a people to establish a government for themselves 
— a great popular right, which I shall never deny — is 
one thing, and the extent of their domain is quite 
another thing. It may be very important to allow 
the people west of the Sierra Nevada to exercise this 
right at this time, and I desire that they shall exer- 
cise it speedily ; but it does not follow that it is wise 
or proper to allow them to subject the whole extent 
of our lately-acquired territory to their laws for all 
time to come. The very principle for which the gen- 
tleman contends would forbid this, for the grant of 
such a power as he wishes to confer upon the inhab- 
itants already in California would deprive future set- 
tlers in other parts of our new territory of the right 
of establishing a government for themselves. 

The bill offered by the gentleman from Virginia 
makes no provision respecting the limits of Texas, 
but leaves the boundary of that state to be ascertained 
and fixed by the judicial tribunals of the country. 

I wish, sir, as I have already said, to settle that 
question, and in defining the limits of Texas I would 
deal with her liberally. I would reward the confi- 
dence with which she came into this Union by a gen- 
erous reception. I Avould treat her claims as a pow- 
erful confederacy ought to treat the claims of a great 
state — a state heretofore sovereign and independent, 
and voluntarily subjecting herself to the authority of 
our Constitution. Do not, with this state in your 
presence asserting her ancient rights, turn her over 
to your courts, and instruct them to look carefully 
into "the bond," and then fix her limits within the 
narrowest bounds. 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES, 209 

It will be seen that the settlement Avhich I propose 
is an approximation to the Missouri Compromise 
line; but there are important points of difference. 
By that line, as it was drawn by the senator from 
Illinois in his amendment to the Oregon Bill, Texas 
was left in possession of her entire domain, stretching 
up to the 42d parallel of latitude, while the Compro- 
mise line was extended to the Pacific Ocean, cutting 
off the base of the State of California lying within 
the boundaries which I have described. Now the 
bill which I offer cuts off from Texas all her territory 
north of 36° 30', and leaves the State of California 
in possession of its entire territory, pursuing a natu- 
ral and great boundary until it enters the Pacific 
Ocean at the parallel of 34° 30' north latitude. 

So far as slavery is concerned, it is conceded that it 
will never enter any part of the territory lying above 
36"^ 30' not embraced ^\dthin the contemplated State 
of California, while no one doubts that the State of 
California, when organized, will prohibit its intro- 
duction. That part of the territory granted to Texas 
will be covered with a population who will tolerate 
or exclude slavery, as the soil, the climate, the rela- 
tive situation of that region, and the Avishes of its in- 
habitants may determine, referring that question to 
the decision of the people . of the states hereafter to 
be formed there. I suppose it is admitted that Tex- 
as will, at some day, be subdivided into several states. 
By the resolution of annexation, it was provided 
that this should take place, Avith the consent of Texas, 
when her territory contained a sufficient population. 
I am willing to rely upon the patriotic spirit of the 

O 



210 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

people of that state for their consent to this arrange- 
ment ; if other gentlemen are not, it may be specially 
provided for in this bill, by making it a condition 
precedent of this extension of her limits, that this 
subdivision is to be made by the government of the 
United States at some proper time, to be judged of 
by Congress, out of territory lying north of the En- 
senado. Gentlemen representing states interested in 
the exclusion of slavery from all territory belonging 
to the United States may, it seems to me, readily 
consent to vote for this measure. It takes from 
Texas a large j)art of her domain, for the loss of 
which she is compensated by an extension of her 
w^estern boundary. It does not establish slavery 
within any part of the new territory subjected to the 
jurisdiction of Texas, but leaves the existence of that 
description of labor to depend for the present upon 
natural causes, and refers it hereafter to the decision 
of the people that may reside there. The right to 
decide this question for themselves is one of those 
great political rights of which no one should desire 
to deprive them. The states formed out of the ter- 
ritory taken from Texas, lying north of 36° 30', would 
exclude slavery, while those lying south of it might 
tolerate or exclude it. But the great advantage se- 
cured by such a division of the territory would be 
that a class of states lying below that line, as well as 
tho§e lying above it, would be homogeneous in their 
character. 

Let us now inquire into the comparative advant- 
ages which tlie northern and southern jDortions of 
this confederacy would derive from such an adjust- 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 211 

ment of their conflicting claims. The number of 
square miles in that part of the territory lately ceded 
to the United States, not embraced within the limits 
claimed by Texas, is 52G,078; of this, New Mexico 
contains 77,387 square miles, while California meas- 
ures 448,691. It Avill at once be seen what a dis- 
proportion Avould exist between the respective shares 
of the North and the South, if all California should 
be mven to the former and New Mexico to the latter. 

By confining the limits of Texas within the paral- 
lel of 36° 30', and extending that line, as I propose 
to do, the North would hold possession of a j^art of 
the domain of Texas amounting to 43,537 square 
miles, of California 303,457 square miles, and of New 
Mexico 33,898— in all, 380,892 square miles; while 
the South would receive of California only 145,234 
square miles, of New Mexico 43,489 square miles — 
in all, 188,723 square miles: giving to the North an 
excess, under this division, of some 200, 000 square 
miles. 

Let it be borne in mind that the territory of Texas 
alone, which would be cut oft' to the North by the 
line which I desire to draAV, w^ould be sufficient to 
make six states, each one as large as the State of 
Massachusetts, or a single state larger than Ohio, 
and nearly as large as New York. When you come 
to survey the fine harbors embraced within the pro- 
posed State of California, especially that of San 
Francisco, which, in the language of one of our naval 
officers, is large enough to contain all the shipping 
of the world; when you come to consider the miner- 
al wealth of that region, its productive soil, and its 



212 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

beautiful mountain slopes, you perceive that the 
North would receive the lion's share, while the South 
would hold but a small part of the Pacific coast, em- 
bracing the inconsiderable harbor of San Diego. 
Fremont says the "Bay of San Francisco has been 
celebrated, from the time of its first discovery, as one 
of the finest in the world, and is justly entitled to 
that character, even under the seaman's view of a 
mere harbor. But when all the accessory advantages 
which belong to it — fertile and picturesque dej)end- 
ent country ; mildness and salubrity of climate ; con- 
nection with the great interior valley of the Sacra- 
mento and San Joaquin; its vast resources for ship 
timber, grain, and cattle — when these advantages are 
taken into the account, with its geographical position 
on the line of communication with Asia, it rises into 
an importance far above that of a mere harbor, and 
deserves a particular notice in any account of mari- 
time California. Its latitudinal position is that of 
Lisbon; its climate, that of Southern Italy; settle- 
ments upon it for more than half a century attest its 
healthiness ; bold shores and mountains give it grand- 
eur; the extent and fertility of its dependent country 
give it great resources for agriculture, commerce, and 
population." 

Add to this extensive and important region (which, 
under the plan we are now considering, goes to the 
North, increasing its maritime power) Oregon, with 
its 341,467 square miles, you find that the domain 
recently acquired on the Pacific by that section of the 
Union is overshadowing. 

This brings me to a part of the question which I 



GOVERNMENTS FOR. THE NEW TERRITORIES. 213 

desire to ]3ress upon the consideration of this com- 
mittee with earnestness. Is it intended to exclude 
the South from all j^articipation in our acquisition 
uj^on the Pacific coast? Will the North, with its 
vast Atlantic possessions and its vast Pacific acqui- 
sitions, insist upon shutting out the South forever 
from all participation in the benefits of this great ac- 
cession to our maritime power? Can not our insti- 
tutions, which we brought into the confederacy with 
us, and about which the Constitution, from the very 
first hour of its existence — springing into being, like 
Minerva, full-gi^o^vn — threw its protecting aegis — can 
not these institutions be carried there with us ? Are 
we to be now excluded, thus settling forever the po- 
litical question that the South can have no share in 
the acquisitions which may hereafter be made along 
the Pacific coast? swelling the already vast power 
of the North, and making the disproportion against 
the South still greater. 

I do not allow myself to entertain any jealousy of 
the North. On the contrary, I rejoice in the pros- 
perity of that part of my country. I glory in the 
great qualities of New England, for instance — quali- 
ties which have covered rock-girt regions and a reluc- 
tant soil with every exhibition which wealth, and 
genius, and civilization can furnish — qualities which 
have been gloriously displayed, both in j^eace and in 
war — qualities wdiich have enabled her to carry the 
flag of our country in triumph over the ocean, wheth- 
er against British vessels, bristling mth guns and 
bearing the cross of St. George, or in the quiet pm^- 
suit of a peaceful commerce, or following the whale 



214 GOVERNMENTS FOR 'I'lIE NEW TERRITORIES. 

into tlic Arctic, seas. Those are qualities in which I 
chum a participation. 'J'liey do not l)elong to New 
England, tlicy belong to the whoh; country. But, 
while I make this admission — it is not an admission 
— while I proclaim this sentiment with all the warmth 
of my heart, I desire to say with e(|ual sincerity that, 
in my judgment, the balance of power which has 
heretofore been maintained by the two great sections 
of our confederacy is essential to wise and conserva- 
tive legislation, and to the ])reservation of our insti- 
tutions. Firndy believing this — it is from no hostil- 
ity to the North, it is from a ])rofound conviction 
that the best interests of the whole country demand 
that this equipoise, if possible, shall be maintained — 
believing this, as I do, I can not give my consent to 
any policy which shall strengthen the disproportion 
ao-ainst the South, or make the influence of the North 
still more powerful. If any bill is to pass this body 
by which the South is to be shut out from all partic- 
ipation in our late acquisitions, that bill must pass 
without my aid. 

Mr. Chairman, I am about to make a statement 
which may be thought to have the demerit of too 
much frankness. I shfill make it in all candor. 
There is a domestic institution in the South which 
in soine sort insulates us from all mankind. The 
civili/ed world is against us. I know it; I compre- 
hend it; I feel it. A sentiment which took its birth 
in England, Avhicli has since spread over the Conti- 
nent of Europe, which now covers a large propor- 
tion of our own country — that sentiment, gathering 
strength with every advancing year, threatens to over- 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 215 

whelm us. The tide has been rising higher and 
higher, until, sir, we hegin to feel the spray breaking 
over the very embankments which surround us. Our 
moral condition at the South resembles the physical 
condition of Holland, where dikes, thrown up by the 
ingenuity of man, hardly protect the habitations of 
man against the incursions of the sea. If the South 
were in a commanding position, I should be willing 
to concede much; but because of her very weakness, 
I shall stand by her to the last. My eyes first be- 
held the light there, and there my eyes shall close 
upon it. I was nurtured in the bosom of the South, 
and I wish to rest in her bosom when this conscious- 
ness is at an end, and this form wasting in the dust. 
No change of circumstances, no overwhelming power 
arrayed against her, no decline of her fortunes, can 
ever induce nje, for one, to forget or to forsake her. 

" For, though the ear be all unstrung, 
Still, still it loves the Lowland tongue." 

Holding the opinions that I do — representing a 
people thus invested by the civilized world — I can 
not consent, for one single moment, to abandon any 
part of their claims. Before I consent, by any act 
or vote of mine, to surrender one jot or one tittle of 
the rights, or the honor, or the glory of the South, 
"my right hand shall forget its cunning, and my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." I know 
that the gentlemen who surround me from the other 
portions of the confederacy respect me the more for 
the sentiment. If the South can not rely upon us to 
urge her claims and vindicate her honor, where, in 
all the eartli, can she look for advocates? No; rep- 



216 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

resenting a people invested as we are, I can never 
give my consent to any measure which diminishes 
any portion of their rights. 

I have already, Mr. Chairman, shown the points 
of resemblance and the points of difference between 
the bill offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Preston) and the measm-e which I have the honor to 
submit. Now I intend, throughout this entire speech, 
to use the utmost frankness. If the whole territory 
ceded to us by Mexico is made one state, as that gen- 
tleman proposes it shall be, then this question, for 
which we have all along been contending, is decided 
against us. Who does not see it? Who does not 
comprehend it ? The very regiment first sent out by 
the President of the United States, that from New 
York, would have decided it against us long ago; 
and if you leave it to the people now there to settle 
this question, it is forever gone. I see it too well to 
doubt it for a single moment. If we have been con- 
tending for any substantial right, it is to be given up. 
I do not know that we can do better; the time for 
protecting the South was when the treaty was before 
the Senate. There was the field upon which our 
riirhts might have been maintained; and since that 
fortunate hour has been suffered to go by, it may be 
that it is too late to retrieve our fortunes. But I do 
not hesitate to say, in full view of my friend (Mr. 
Preston), and with perfect respect for his patriotism 
as well as his intellect, that if we accept the bill of 
the gentleman, we shall be in circumstances precisely 
similar to those in which Francis I. found himself 
after the battle of Pavia, and in writing to our con- 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 217 

stituents we may employ the very language wliicli lie 
addressed to his mother: "All is lost save om- hon- 
or." Who questions this? I admit that our honor 
is worth all the rest. But who does not perceive 
that to make a single state out of this new territory, 
and to allow the people there to-day, inhabiting a 
part of the territory, to legislate for the whole of it — 
to subject its entire extent to their exclusive jurisdic- 
tion — to allow them to decide upon the question of 
slavery or no slavery, is substantially to abandon 
every thing which the South has heretofore claimed? 
I do not desire to influence the votes of gentlemen 
either from the South or the North; let them take 
the question on their own responsibility; but I frank- 
ly give my view of the effects of the bill which the 
gentleman proposes. 

It is said that slave labor can never be carried prof- 
itably into that region. Why, then, I ask, seek to 
exclude it by odious legislation ? What patriotic 
motive — what high consideration — what generous 
impulse can urge gentlemen to press upon us an of- 
fensive measure, in advance of an exclusion which, 
they insist, will be as certainly secured by the exist- 
ing laws of nature ? It is nothing short of bigotry — 
mere blind bigotry — which, in the language of an 
Irish orator, "has no head, and can not think — has 
no heart, and can not feel." Why urge a measure 
of this sort? Why not leave to the laws of nature 
what the laws of nature will surely accomplish ? 

There can be no objection to the size of the State 
of Texas, Avitli the boundaries which I j^ropose for it, 
that does not apply with equal force to the State of 



218 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

California, which the gentleman from Virginia pro- 
230ses to create. If it be said that Texas will be too 
large with this extension of her boundaries, I would 
ask if California will not be too large, covering the 
vast region which is to be embraced within its limits'? 
Do you object to extending the boundary of Texas 
to the Pacific? You must, then, also object to ex- 
tending the boundaries of California from the Pacific 
to the limits of Texas. Let it be borne in mind that 
this is to be a temporary arrangement; that the new 
territory which I propose to give to Texas is to be 
subdivided hereafter into states. I regard it as a 
limited subjection to the jurisdiction of Texas — a sub- 
jection which will cease when it possesses a sufiicient 
population to form a separate state. Virginia was 
once a state vast in extent; so was Georgia; but 
both these great states, animated by patriotic mo- 
tives, have surrendered a large amount of their terri- 
torial possessions. Texas will follow their example. 

Neither can there be any objection to altering the 
boundary of California or Ncav Mexico. Mexican 
provinces have no fixed boundaries like our states, 
but are modified or subdivided to suit the convenience 
of the supreme power. 

I confess, sir, my desire to secure the vast region 
which we have recently acquired by treaty, and to see 
it embraced within the Union as an integral part of 
our domain. We may spread our system of govern- 
ment with perfect safety. Our progress is pacific. 
It grows out of the inherent energy of our people 
and the character of our institutions. The progress 
of the Poman Empire was military ; the weight of 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 219 

its chariot- wheel crushed every thing in its course; 
tribes, provinces, nations, were subdued by the force 
of arms, and were held in subjection by resistless pow- 
er. When they recovered strength, they threw off 
the yoke, and turned their spears against their op- 
pressors. Such a system lost its strength by exten- 
sion. A decay of the central power suffered the re- 
mote possessions to feel their independence and as- 
sert their liberty ; and an empire built up by arms, 
covering the civilized world, making a single city the 
seat of boundless imperial power, fell by its own 
weight. The very principle upon which the struc- 
ture was raised announced the certainty of its destruc- 
tion. Our system, too, is a representative republic — 
local in one respect, and federal in another. In the 
philosophical language of Montesquieu, quoted with 
approbation by Alexander Hamilton, who Avas one 
of the first, if not the first statesman to whom this 
country has given birth, "A confederate republic 
has all the internal advantages of a republican, to- 
gether with the external force of a monarchical gov- 
ernment. As this government is composed of small 
republics, it enjoys the internal hapjDiness of each ; 
aiid Avith respect to its external situation, it is 2:)0s- 
sessed, by means of the association, of all the advan- 
tages of large monarchies."" We can afford to spread 
a government over this entire continent — at least, so 
much as belongs to us — without the slightest appre- 
hension of internal disorders or of dissolution. The 
truth is, we find our strength in our union. Neigh- 
borins; states are rival states. I have seen it recent- 
ly stated that the wars of the time of Louis XIV. , 



220 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

and since, are, at this day, an annual charge upon tlie 
states of Europe of five hundred millions of dollars, 
besides several millions more, which must be taken 
into the account, for maintaining standing armies to 
jDrotect themselves against each other. Who desires 
to see such a state of things upon this continent ? 
Who would give away any portion of our territory ? 
Some of the very considerations which induce me to 
maintain the Union as it is now would induce me to 
embrace within the Union all the territories which 
belong to us. I am, therefore, opposed to the idea 
which I have heard thrown out in conversation, and 
sometimes expressed where the gravity and dignity 
of a speech go with it — the idea of cutting off any 
part of this territory which now belongs to us, so as 
to make an independent republic. A senator, distin- 
guished for his intellect and his learning (Mr. Ben- 
ton), said, I believe, in a speech delivered by him some 
years since, that ' ' he desired to see the god Terminus 
placed on the summit of the Rocky Mountains, mark- 
ing the boundary between the two republics — an At- 
lantic republic and a Pacific republic." I do not, for 
a moment, participate in the sentiment. It does not 
meet my approbation on any single principle ; and I 
am happy to see that distinguished senator himself 
now urging the construction of a great national high- 
way across the continent. The danger of border- 
wars, conflicting commercial systems, rival interests, 
all forbid the existence of an independent kindred 
state ; the national safety, national tranquillity, and 
national glory, all demand an extension of our polit- 
ical system over our entire domain. I trust that "the 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 221 

god Terminus" will never stand on the Kocky Mount- 
ains, nor on the Sierra Nevada, but that he will 
sink under the placid waves of the Pacific, and that 
our government will be outs^^read over the entire re- 
gion which belongs to us. I desire to realize the pic- 
ture of one people extending from the St. Lawrence 
to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, living under the same laws, speaking the same 
language, professing the same religious faith, bearing 
the same national standard, calling up the same glo- 
rious recollections, and looking forward to the same 
glorious hopes. This is what I desire to see realized. 
The sun in his course has looked down upon many a 
glorious exhibition of commercial wealth and politi- 
cal 230wer ; he has seen the Assyrian, the Macedoni- 
an, and the Poman empires rise and fall ; he sees, to- 
day, the British empire in the full pride of its power ; 
but never, in his whole course, has he turned his burn- 
ing vision upon a spectacle of commercial wealth, 
political power, and national glory like that which 
this country will present when we have carried our 
institutions over our entire domain. For one, I desire 
to realize it, and to realize it as speedily as possible. 
There is, in my judgment, a gi^eat advantage to be 
derived by the American nation from the acquisition 
of California as an essential and permanent portion 
of this republic. I do not speak of its mineral wealth. 
I allude to considerations far more important — I 
mean its harbors. We need harbors on the Pacific 
coast. We must have them ; and California, as it 
happens, presents the finest the world has ever seen. 
I have already referred to the harbor of San Fran- 



222 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

cisco> Before we pronounce this to be a small ac- 
quisition — for I can not consent to view it in a party 
light, opposed as I was to the acquisition of territory, 
and to making war upon a feeble people ; opposed as 
I was to it, I regard the question as now settled, and 
I am prepared to estimate the full value of the acqui- 
sition — we must look to the trade with Asia; we 
must look to the gainful traffic of the Eastern Archi- 
pelago and of China before we pronounce this a light 
or trifling acquisition. The time is not far distant 
when we shall import into California the muslins, 
silks, teas, and other commodities of great value pro- 
duced by China. The time is not far distant when 
the neighboring islands will be covered with an in- 
dustrious and civilized population, consuming our 
products and exchanging their commodities with us. 
The time is not far distant when our Eastern trade, 
now carried on with Asia at great risk, running the 
gauntlet of the British naval posts, will be transferred 
to the tranquil bosom of the Pacific, and be conduct- 
ed in comparative security. The time is not far dis- 
tant when an idea will be realized which I remember 
to have thrown out in the first sj)eech I ever made 
on this floor : we shall have a rail-road runnins: 
through our entire domain, connecting the East with 
the West, and the trade and travel of the whole world 
will be turned across this road, through our western 
ports, into the Pacific. I confess I value an acquisi- 
tion which brings to us a promise of this sort; and, for 
one, I shall do all in my power — as Mexico has lost 
the territory, as it is now in our possession — toward 
securing it, and making it a permanent part of our 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 223 

possessions. When the institutions of this country 
are thus carried out — when our religion, and laws, 
and civilization are seated on the shores of the Pa- 
cific — when they begin to spread their splendor over 
the neighboring islands and upon the distant East — 
then, I say, this country will present a picture which 
the philanthropist, the statesman, and the Christian 
may contemplate with unmixed delight. Let it come 
in our time — the sooner the better. I earnestly de- 
sire it may all be realized. 

But while I have this feeling in all the strength 
with which I have expressed it, at the same time I 
do not hesitate to say that I prefer the Union of these 
states to any increase of wealth or any accession of 
power. I love old alliances too Avell to seek new 
ones at the exjoense of the old. Highly as I value 
California, glorious as is the picture which the fu- 
ture presents, I would cast it all away, as my eloquent 
friend from Indiana (Mr. Thomj)son) said the other 
day, rather than put in peril this Union as it exists 
to-day 

Sir, I do not regard the Union as in any danger. 
Far from it. But the time may come when the fra- 
ternal feeling which gives this Union all its value 
may be destroyed. The time may come wdien the 
lofty patriotism which now pervades the American 
bosom, and makes the American feel — whether tread- 
ing the hills of New England, the plains of the South, 
or the prairies of the West — 

" This is my own, my native land," 

may expire — when every thing like patriotism shall 
be lost, and national glory and national power shall 



224 GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 

be maintained at the sacrifice of that sentiment which 
first brought these kindred states into voluntary and 
cordial union. 

I have already said that I am a Southern man by 
birth, by rearing, by allegiance, by all the mighty 
sympathies which can bind the heart of a man to his 
people ; but I claim the wider and still more glorious 
privilege of being a citizen of the American Union ; 
and while I love tlip South, I should love the South 
less if it did not form a part of this Union. No act 
of mine shall ever do any thing toward surrendering 
the glory and the rights of the section from which- 1 
come ; no act of mine shall ever do any thing toward 
weakening the tie which binds us together as a com- 
luon country. I have heretofore never partici23ated 
in any scheme of that kind, and while God gives 
me reason I never shall. I will encounter any haz- 
ard, here or at home, before I Avill take part in any 
combination looking to any such purpose. There are 
rights, many rights, dear to us as a Southern people. 
I know it. But no man shall make me count the 
cost of this Union ; no man shall bring me to the 
point when I will run over the estimate to see what 
I can afford to give up, the South or the Union. I 
will clino; to both. I will never be brouo^ht into a 
cold arithmetical estimate of that description. If I 
thouo-ht the orsranizino; a government for California 
would put this Union in peril, I would forever with- 
hold that government. If I thought the surrender 
of that territory was necessary to the preservation of 
our harmony or our fraternal feeling, I would give 
up that territory now and forever. But I can not 



GOVERNMENTS FOR THE NEW TERRITORIES. 225 

believe that all patriotic feeling is lost in the repre- 
sentatives of the people. That can not be. We 
have the manliness, the patriotism, the wisdom to 
construct a government, I am sure, which will con- 
cede something on all sides, and leave us all far bet- 
ter off, because we shall have disposed of these dis- 
turbing questions, and henceforth we shall better un- 
derstand each other. 

I see my time is rapidly drawing to a close. I 
have endeavored to exhibit this scheme as clearly as 
possible. I know that in the short time allotted to 
me I can not do it justice. But I believe it possesses 
great merits. I think it ought to be seriously con- 
sidered. I do not j^retend to say what bill I shall 
vote for if mine is rejected, or whether I shall vote 
for any; but I do say I never will consent to any 
enactment on the part of this body, if I can prevent 
it, which makes that portion of the Union which I 
in part represent in any manner less in dignity, less 
in glory, or less in co-ordinate sovereignty than other 
portions. 

Let THE Union stand, and stand, if it mat be, 
FOREVER. I rejoice to hope it will. But, at the 
same time, I desire to see harmony prevail among 
the several states of the Union — harmony like that 
which reigns in the spheres. If we must rival each 
other, let us differ from each other as one star differ- 
eth from another star in glory; and let us be held 
together in our mighty sweep through the vast orbit 
we are filling, not by a binding girdle of iron, but by 
the indestructible power of universal attraction. 

P 



SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 

REMARKS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, 
DECEMBER 12th, 1849. 

Mr. Hilliard said : 

The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Allen), 
who has just resumed his seat, aifects to disregard 
the declarations which several gentlemen have made 
to-day in this hall in relation to the perilous condi- 
tion to which the government is now brought, on the 
ground that they have spoken under the influence of 
passion; and he treats this impressive occasion with 
unbecoming levity, in likening the irrepressible burst 
of feeling which has more than once interrupted the 
course of this debate, to the contrived applause which 
brought one of Oliver Goldsmith's earliest plays into 
notice. A calmer man never addressed him than 
the one who now rises to speak upon this great topic 
which has so unexpectedly been brought up for dis- 
cussion, and I say to him and to this whole House 
that the union of these states is hi great jperil. It has 
been precipitated into this condition by an utter 
oblivion, on the part of gentlemen representing the 
non-slaveholding states, of the feeling and purpose 
of the people of the southern j)ortion of this confed- 
eracy, in regard to the threatened encroachments on 
their rights. I have never known, throughout the 
entire southern country, so settled and deep a feeling 
upon the subject to which I have referred — the at- 



SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 227 

tempt to exclude slavery from the territories of the 
United States — as now exists there. And I solemnly 
declare, speaking from a thorough acquaintance with 
that j^eople — a people among whom I was born and 
have been brought up, that if this legislation is to be 
persisted in, this Union can not stand. The gentle- 
man (Mr. Allen) says that the Union is in no danger ; 
that the gentlemen who have announced its dangers 
could not even remove one of the marble columns 
which support this hall; yet I would remind him 
that the hand of a cliild may fling a torch into a tem- 
ple which will reduce the magnificent structure to 
ashes. He and his associates are heaping combusti- 
ble materials against the lofty columns of this Union 
which the hand of a child may at any time fire. It 
is time for every true friend of the Union to speak 
out ; if it is to be rescued from the perils which in- 
vest it, it must be done by a manly, truthful, bold 
declaration of the sentiments of the Southern people. 
I employ no threatening language. I knoAV too 
well what is due to others, from what I feel to be 
due to myself, to use any other language than such 
as I desire others to use toward myself I address 
gentlemen who can comprehend elevated considera- 
tions, and who will act under the promptings of pat- 
riotic sentiments at this solemn conjuncture. In 
speaking for the people who have once more honored 
me with their confidence in sending me here to rep- 
resent them, I feel it to be my duty to say that, Avhile 
they cherish a profound attachment to the Union, 
they will never submit to any legislation which places 
their state in an inferior relation to the other states 



228 SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 

of this great confederacy. They will never hesitate 
when the choice comes to be made between danger 
and dishonor. They would regard a dissolution of 
the Union as a calamity — a calamity too great to be 
estimated ; but they would esteem submission to leg- 
islation which at once deprives them of their rights 
and degrades them as a still greater calamity. For 
my own part, I have never admired a phrase which 
has become somewhat current, that "we shall be com- 
pelled to calculate the value of the Union." 

The value of the Union which binds these states 
together is incalculable; its priceless value defies all 
the ordinary methods of computation; it is conse- 
crated by battles, and triumphs, and glories Avhich 
belong to the past ; it embraces a people of kindred 
blood scattered throughout these states, speaking 
the same language, and holding the same religious 
faith ; it secures to us innumerable blessings ; it looks 
forward to a future still more prosperous and more 
glorious than the past. But, though all this be so, 
it may be destroyed, and will be, unless the measures 
which some gentlemen in this hall seem so resolute 
to press are at once arrested. A brave, generous, 
high-spirited people, who comprehend their rights, 
and who know how important it is for free states to 
resist the first encroachment of tyranny, in whatever 
shape it may come, will, under the pressure of a great 
necessity, break off an alliance which employs the 
machinery of a common government against them 
without pausing to cast up its value. The Union is 
a government of consent, not of force. When the 
soul of the Union is fled, how can it longer survive? 



SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 229 

When the fraternal affection which holds us together 
in willing association is destroyed, what girdle can be 
thrown around these states strong enough to bind 
them ? It is of no avail that you j^oint to a future 
of convulsion and blood which lies beyond the hour 
of oiu:" separation. Any thing is to be preferred to 
an ignominious submission to tja^anny — tyranny 
which revels in the mere wantonness of its streng^th. 
Men resign life rather than submit to that which 
robs life of its value. I appeal to the friends of tlie 
Union. I may well avow myself to be one of them. 
In the canvass through which I passed last summer, 
I bore in my hand that banner which the gentleman 
from Virginia (Mr. M'Dowell) described in that elo- 
quent sj^eech by which we were all so much moved 
at the last session. I bore that gi-eat banner in tri- 
umph. I spoke for the Union. I urged upon the 
generous people who gathered about me, and heard 
me, forbearance. I insisted that we should trust to 
the forms of the government for protection until we 
V found them insufficient barriers. I vindicated the 
peoj^le of the Northern States, and did not hesitate to 
declare that it was my belief the unjust legislation in 
regard to the government of the territories of the 
United States, which had been threatened, and against 
which they wqre so indignant, would never be con- 
summated. Now, then, gentlemen, I appeal to you; 
I call on you for forbearance, and I solemnly declare 
to you that it rests with you to save the government 
from the perils wliich surround it. Upon you will 
rest the responsibility of settling this great question. 
The people of these states, the civilized world, and 



230 SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 

the God of the universe will hold you responsible 
for the consequences. It is in your power to restore 
harmony to our system — to turn the government 
from the dangers upon which it is driving; and you 
can do it without a single sacrifice. The Wilmot 
Proviso, as it is styled by those who claim to repre- 
sent that measure on this floor — the Wilmot Provi- 
so, which seeks to exclude the citizens of the slave- 
holding states from California and New Mexico, has 
not a single jDrincij^le to recommend it. It rests nei- 
ther upon generosity, nor justice, nor constitutional 
law, and it asserts a doctrine which would not be 
tolerated for a single moment, if applied to the ordi- 
nary transactions of life, in any part of the civilized 
world. 

Mr. Schenck here interposed to give his views of 
the Wilmot Proviso, disclaiming that name for it, and 
assertino; that it was the ordinance of 1787 which was 
intended to be applied to the territories of the United 
States. 

Mr. Hilliard resumed his remarks, and said, What 
Virginia generously gave was subjected to the ordi- 
nance of 1787. I shall not now stop to speak of 
that ordinance ; its authority was questioned by some 
of the ablest men of that day ; but let it pass. The 
attempt to settle the Wilmot Proviso now on the ba- 
sis of the ordinance of 1787 is a vain effort. The 
Wilmot Proviso is a selfish scheme, which proposes 
to seize upon and appropriate the entire territory ac- 
quired from Mexico by the common exertion, and 
common treasure, and, what is more, the common 
blood of the people of this whole country, for the 



SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 231 

benefit of the non-slaveholding portion of this con- 
federacy. The people of the Southern States, who 
bore their full share of the cost of the war, whether 
you regard the outlay of money or the still more pre- 
cious expenditure of human life, are to be denied any 
participation in the fruits of the victory. Can you 
expect them to bear it? Would you not despise 
them if they did ? You admit that there already ex-. 
ists an insuperable barrier against the introduction 
of slavery into those territories, and yet you insist 
upon excluding it by bringing the authority of this 
government — a government which ought to protect 
the rights of all its citizens alike — to provide for its 
exclusion by positive legislation. If you persist in 
this course, gentlemen, you must take the responsibil- 
ity of all the consequences which grow out of it. A 
gentleman from North Carolina, now before me (Mr. 
Clingman), one of the most conservative who occu- 
pies a seat on this floor, has clearly stated, in his re- 
cent letter, the settled purpose of the Avhole Southern 
people in regard to this measure ; and he added that 
no people had been known to prosper long after sub- 
mitting to an unjust and degrading encroachment on 
their rights. We do not intend to furnish another 
illustration of that great political truth. Sj^are us, 
gentlemen, the necessity of choosing between submis- 
sion to unjust and degrading encroachments on our 
rights, or a disruption of the ties which bind us to- 
gether. 

Let me remind you of the relations which we hold 
to this threatening question. Your policy is aggress- 
ive^ ours is defensive. You seize the machinery of the 



232 SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 

government and turn it against us. We ask you to 
forbear, and to leave us in the enjoyment of whatev- 
er rights we may possess. It is in your power to 
save the Union ; it is in your power to destroy it. 
Carry out the measures with which you threaten us, 
and it will then be too late to save it. You can not 
keep down the elements which will heave beneath the 
government which to-day displays its glorious pro- 
portions to the world. The internal fires of the earth 
can not be kej^t down by the weight of the mount- 
ains which press them ; they will flame up. Nor is 
there strength enough in this government to keep 
down the feeling which the consummation of the in- 
justice you contemplate will arouse throughout the 
whole Southern country. 

* You have heard Virginia speak through her Legis- 
lature ; Alabama has j^assed her resolutions in sol- 
emn form ; and the voice of Mississippi comes up 
like the rush of her own great waters. I feel at lib- 
erty to speak out ^^lainly. I have been charged with 
being too national — with cherishing so profound an 
attachment to the Union that I was ready to surren- 
der the rights of the South to save it. I do not re- 
2Tet a single exertion which I have made in behalf 
of the Union. If I can now do any thing toward 
averting impending calamities, I shall gladly do it. 
But I can go no farther. If, having eyes, you refuse 
to see, and having ears, you refuse to hear — if you will 
not regard the remonstrances of a people now thor- 
oughly roused by the unjust measures with which 
they are threatened, my mind is made up to stand 
with the people of that oppressed section of the Union 



SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 233 

in resistance to your measures and your power. You 
have the majority, but the will of a majority can not 
disturb the great principles of the Constitution, nor 
can it interpret the Constitution. In our government 
we are protected against the tyranny of a popular 
majority — the worst of all tyrannies — by the provi- 
sions of the Constitution. When the power of the 
majority transcends the limits of the Constitution, it 
ceases to be law, and becomes usurpation. 

Before resuming my seat, I desire to allude, if gen- 
tlemen will allow me, to what occurred in the pre- 
liminary meeting which nominated Mr. Winthrop for 
the speakership. [Cries of " Certainly, certainly" — 
" Go on."] When I came to Washington, it was my 
purpose to vote for Mr. Winthrop for speaker. An 
accomplished gentleman, admirably fitted in every 
way to preside over a body like this, my personal 
friend, I could not hesitate to vote for him. When, 
however, in the meeting to which I have referred, a 
resolution was brought forward which was intended 
as the basis of an understanding in regard to our ac- 
tion upon the dangerous question of which I have 
just been speaking, and when I found that we could 
agree upon nothing at that time, I saw the difficulties 
of my position. I did not expect the resolution to 
pass, but I did hope that a free conference would fol- 
low, in which we might come to some good under- 
standing. Failing in this, I withheld my vote for 
some days from my friend (Mr. Winthrop), and I know 
that this was felt far more by me than it could be by 
him. In the mean while, having conversed freely 
with several leading gentlemen from the non-slave- 



234 SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 

holding states in regard to the slavery question, I 
found, on their j^art, a better disposition toward the 
Southern States and their rights than I had ever ob- 
served before. I felt, too, that the House ought to 
be organized ; and it seemed to me that it was in ev- 
ery way important to secure a speaker friendly to the 
administration. The administration ought to be able 
to bring its measures fairly before the country, and 
this it could not do with a speaker and with commit- 
tees hostile to its j^olicy. I did not doubt that when 
its measures were fairly presented to the country, the 
people would sustain the administration, for I believe 
that its measures are characterized by honesty and by 
ability. In the liojDe, then, that the dangerous legis- 
lation in reference to slavery would not be pressed, 
and that the influence of the Southern Whig mem- 
bers over that legislation would be far greater by as- 
sociating with than by drawing off from our North- 
ern friends, I determined to aid in the election of our 
candidate for sjDcaker. 

Now, gentlemen, I have s^Joken out freely what I 
felt it to be my duty to say. We must look the dan- 
gers which threaten us in the face. The Union must 
be saved. Do not suffer men, whose vocation it is to 
agitate dangerous questions, to drive you upon fatal 
measures. There is patriotism enough, and there is 
firmness enough, to arrest the evils which threaten 
us. I rej)eat what I have said — those of us who sit 
with you as representatives from the Southern States 
on this side of the chamber, can go no farther. 

The people of the State of Alabama look to this 
Congress with the deepest interest. They will hail 



SLAVERY AND THE UNION. 235 

with joy the triumph of a patriotic and magnanimous 
policy ; hut if other counsels prevail, and your legis- 
lation should be so misguided as to deprive them of 
rights which they hold dear, they "svill, I believe, throw 
off the authority of a government which has ceased 
to answer the ends for which it was created. 

I still hope that the cloud which hangs so darkly 
above us at this moment will pass away, and that 
our country will go forward in its glorious career, en- 
joying the highest internal prosperity, and giving to 
the world the noblest example that has ever been fur- 
nished of liberty and order, of strength and tranquil- 
lity. 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA.— PRESI- 
DENT TAYLOKS POLICY. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
• UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 14th, 1850. 

The House being in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, Mr. 
Boyd, of Kentucky, in the chair, Mr. Hilhard addressed the committee as fol- 
lows : 

Mr, Chairman, — I rise, sir, to discuss the recom- 
mendations of the President in relation to the gov- 
ernment of the territory acquired from Mexico by 
the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. His views are 
expressed with great frankness and directness, and 
they ought to be treated by us in the same spirit. 
That the course which the President has thought 
proper to pursue toward the inhabitants of that ex- 
tensive and distant territory has been adopted under 
a sense of duty, and that his recommendations to 
Congress respecting the future political condition of 
its people are prompted by patriotic motives, no one 
can doubt, however widely some may find it necessa- 
ry to dissent from the policy which he advises. It 
is his desire, to use his own language, "to afford to 
the wisdom and patriotism of Congress the opportu- 
nity of avoiding bitter and angry dissensions among 
the people of the United States." He informs us 
that the people of that part of California which lies 
on the Pacific have formed a plan of a State Consti- 
tution, and will soon apply for admission as a state; 



ADMISSION OP CALIFORNIA. 237 

and he recommends that they shall be received, if 
their proposed Constitution, when submitted to Con- 
gress, shall be found to be in compliance with the re- 
quisitions of the Constitution of the United States. 
He further recommends that Congress shall forbear 
to establish any government over that part of tlie ter- 
ritory which lies eastward of the new state of Cali- 
fornia, or over New Mexico, leaving to the people 
the privilege of governing themselves in the mean 
while as they may deem best, and trusting the great 
question which now excites such painful sensations 
in the country to the silent effect of causes which Avill 
settle it, independent of the action of Congress. 

This is the policy which the President recommends 
to us, and he invokes in its suj^port the wisdom and 
patriotism of Congress. Never at any time have 
these qualities been in higher demand than they are 
at this moment ; never has a parliamentary body had 
greater interests confided to it than those which to- 
day engage us; never have men acting for their 
country been appealed to by nobler considerations 
than those which address themselves to the Congress 
of the United States. Sir, I have bestowed upon 
this great question the most earnest reflection ; I have 
studied it thoroughly and with the most sincere re- 
spect for the motives of the President and the best 
wishes for the success of his administration, I find 
it impossible to give my support to the policy which 
he recommends. I shall discuss that policy with 
perfect freedom. I hope that the friends of the Pres- 
ident will ever merit the tribute paid by Tacitus to 
the Britons, ' ' Utijareant non-dum ut serviant. " They 



238 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

know how to respect power, but they do not know 
how to serve. 

The plan recommended by the President leaves the 
great question which now excites such angry dissen- 
sions throughout the country open, at least so far as 
the territory embraced within the boundary claimed 
by New Mexico and Deseret is concerned. I desire 
to settle the question — not a part of the question, but 
the whole question — and to settle it com2:)letely. A 
partial settlement would leave the great controversy 
still open; the agitatioii would go on, and would 
prove fatal alike to the tranquil action of the govern- 
ment and to the interests of the Southern States. 

The state of the country demands that the subject 
should be disposed of by an adjustment so com2:)lete 
as to insure repose. Never, since the moment when 
the government Avas established, has it been exposed 
to dangers such as now threaten it. In that great 
contest which grew up from the application of Mis- 
souri to enter the Union, and from the attempt which 
was then made to impose on her a restriction aifect- 
ing her domestic institutions, Mr. Jeiferson wrote to 
a friend that he regarded it as the most momentous 
question which had ever threatened the Union; and 
that, in the darkest hour of the Revolutionary strug- 
gle, he had never felt such apprehensions as then op- 
pressed him. The aspect of affairs is darker to-day 
than it was in the gloomiest hour of that contest. 
The whole strength of the North is put in array 
against the South, and it is announced as their set- 
tled policy that slavery shall be confined to the limits 
which it now occupies in the United States. The 



ADMISBION OF CALIFORNIA. 239 

North — the populous, t/icming, powerful North — 
confident in its strengtli, forgetting the early struggle 
through which it passed in common with the Soutli, 
forgetting the spirit which animated those who form- 
ed the Constitution — a spirit which existed wdjen the 
South was the stronger and the North the weaker 
party — the Nortli, planting itself upon whiat it calls 
a great principle, announces its purpose to limit 
slavery henceforth and forever; to deny the South 
any share of the lately-acquired territory, or in the 
acquisitions which the government of the United 
States may hereafter make, whether by purchase, by 
conquest, or by any other mode of annexation. A 
spirit equally determined prevails at the South ; 
throughout that entire region there exists a single 
purpose in regard to this threatened aggression, and 
that is to resist it to the last. 

At this moment, then, sir, when the North and the 
South thus confront each other — when the danger of 
collision is so great that men scarcely know how long 
it can be averted — when one of the most experienced 
statesmen of the country, whose long and brilliant 
career, affording ?iim the opportunity of taking part 
in all the great affairs of the government for more 
than a quarter of a century, declared but the other 
day, in the senate chamber, that he rose every morn- 
ing expecting to hear of some public disaster grow- 
ing out of this alarming question — at this moment- 
sir, we are arhnonished by our regard for the welfare 
of the people of the United States to settle the ques- 
tion promptl}', decidedly, and completely. 

To aximit California, and to leave New Mexico and 



240 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

the country now known as Deseret without agreeing 
upon their forms of government, would merely shift 
the ground of the controversy. It could not end it. 
Slavery, excluded from California by the Constitution 
of that state, would leave no field for any further ex- 
ertion on the part of its enemies, but they would en- 
ter upon the task of excluding it from the remaining 
Territories with a zeal quickened by their late success. 
The President, in recommending delay, supposed 
that the softening influence of time would operate 
favorably on the question, by restoring harmony to 
our councils, and reviving a jDatriotic spirit through- 
out the country; while I can see no prospect of re- 
pose but in a prompt and complete adjustment of the 
source of our dissensions. 

If, sir, the tranquillity of the country demands a 
settlement of this alarming question, it is equally de- 
manded by the interest of the slaveholding states. If 
we should admit California into the Union as a state, 
with the boundaries now claimed by its inhabitants, 
without receiving guarantees for the protection of our 
rights in other portions of the territories belonging to 
us, we should transfer the sceptre of political j^ower 
at once and forever into the hands of the enemies of 
our institutions, and the slaveholding states would 
enter upon a fixed, dreary, hopeless minority, in the 
face of a growing aggression which threatens our very 
existence. To-day we hold a balance in the Senate 
of the United States, but the entrance of another non- 
slaveholding state into the Union would turn that 
balance against us. We shall never be stronger than 
we are to-day. So far as we can read the future, we 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 241 

must expect the disproportion against us to grow. 
To-day, then, it is our duty to ascertain and fix tlie 
future policy of this government. 

The time is come when the slaveholding states 
must throw up barriers against all future aggressions, 
unless they are ready to surrender all weight in the 
confederacy of which they form a part, and tamely 
submit to any j)olicy which an overwhelming major- 
ity may impose upon them. The time is come not 
only to resist the measures which noAV threaten them, 
but to demand guarantees for their future protection. 
I repeat it, sir, we shall never be stronger than we 
are to-day, and we must therefore settle to-day the in- 
terests of the gi'eat future which is oj^ening before us. 
We are strong enough noAV to repel the aggressions 
which threaten us, and to secure ample protection for 
our future safety if we have the spirit to press our 
demands. 

If I required any thing to remind me of my duty 
to the people I represent in this crisis, it would be 
found in the letter of the honorable gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Duer), who sits near me, lately ad- 
dressed to the editor of an influential journal jjublish- 
ed at the capital of his state. That letter discloses 
the whole policy of the movement against the inter- 
ests of the Southern States ; it insists that the aim of 
those who seek to exclude slavery from Deseret and 
New Mexico may be accomplished with perfect cer- 
tainty by the admission of California into the Union 
at this time. It advises delay as to the Territories, 
but it is merely delay. The honorable gentleman 
does not conceal his purpose, but, with a frankness 

Q 



242 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

which is creditable to him, he undertakes to persuade 
the impatient advocates of the Wihnot Proviso that 
the true mode of accomplishing their object is to wel- 
come California into the Union now, with her Con- 
stitution excluding slavery, and to deal with the Ter-, 
ritories hereafter. Sir, nothing can be wiser than 
this ; the conception is an admirable one ; the great 
Frederick, nor the still greater Napoleon, neither of 
these successful commanders could have projected a 
more skillful plan for the campaign. The gentleman 
comprehends that the question, as an entire question, 
is too formidable to be disposed of at once. In over- 
running the territories which he would secure for 
Northern dominion, he would take California first, 
and then throw his force into the remaining portions 
of the territory. 

For one, sir, I am for offering battle at once. I am 
for staking every thing uj^on a single field. We shall 
never be in better condition for contesting it than we 
are now. And if we are hereafter to struggle for a 
foothold in Deseret and New Mexico, I prefer to 
struggle for ascendency in California too, that we 
may bear our institutions with us to the Pacific coast. 

It is due, sir, to the President to say, that, in rec- 
ommending the admittance of California, and the 
withholding governments from the remaining por- 
tions of the territory, he believed that the tranquillity 
of the country would be preserved, and that the in- 
terests of the Southern States would be secured. Pec- 
ognizing the gi-eat popular right of self-government in 
the inhabitants of the Territories, and believing that 
the very large increase of American population in 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 243 

California entitled it to admission as a state, he rec- 
ommended the policy to which I have adverted ; but, 
sir, it is apparent that the North will adopt only one 
part of the President's policy. They will consent to 
sustain his recommendations as to Californiaj but 
they advertise us, in unmistakable terms, that they 
go with him no farther. 

I shall then insist, sir, upon an immediate and 
complete settlement of this whole question, and I 
earnestly trust that the people of the whole Southern 
country will insist on it ; that they will hold the po- 
sition they have taken ; and that, merging every oth- 
er question in this, forgetting all differences, they will 
come up in this great struggle with the compactness 
of a Grecian phalanx and the resistless tread of a 
Roman legion. 

Before entering upon the consideration of the prop- 
er mode of settling this controversy, I shall examine 
the relations which the North and the South respect- 
ively hold to it. And here I desire to say that I shall 
not consent to argue this as a moral question ; this is 
no place for such discussions ; the question is purely 
a political one. This government was not establish- 
ed to regulate moral questions, but to protect political 
rights. Nor shall I appeal to the benevolent dispo- 
sition of gentlemen to regard with favor the exposed 
condition of our population. 

This government has no power to interfere with 
our internal affairs. We feel no apprehension as to 
intestine commotions. We invoke in our behalf no 
sentiments but those which ought to animate the 
equal representatives of a free and a kindred j^eople. 



244 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

We insist upon a great political right, resting upon 
broad constitutional grounds. That we shall main- 
tain the right at whatever cost, I do not doubt. 

The very question which now occupies us was be- 
fore -the Convention which framed the Constitution. 
It engaged the attention of that great body of wise 
and patriotic men. It was debated ; it was referred 
to committees ; it was the subject of long and anx- 
ious sittings. And when it came to be disposed of, 
the extreme views of neither party prevailed, but a 
perfectly definite arrangement was entered into, and, 
that it might be perpetuated, it was wrought into the 
very body of the Constitution. 

A great mind of our own times, the exjnring gleams 
of which were seen in this hall — a mind whose sym- 
pathies were all with the enemies of slavery, admit- 
ted that the slaveholding lords of the South, as he 
styled them, demanded and secured three provisions 
for their benefit as conditions upon which they as- 
sented to the Constitution : the apportionment of rep- 
resentatives so as to include slaves in the estimate of 
population, the privilege of importing slaves for twen- 
ty years, and the stipulation to deliver up fugitives 
from labor. 

It will be observed, sir, that no power was assert- 
ed by the Convention over slavery ; they did not un- 
dertake to control it ; on the contrary, the slavehold- 
ing states then asserted, as they now assert, that the 
right to hold slaves was independent of the Consti- 
tution. It is true, there were provisions for the pro- 
tection of the enjo}Tiient of this right, the guarantee 
to suppress insurrection, and the stipulations to re- 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 245 

store fugitives from labor ; but the first of these is a 
power never likely to be invoked, and the second, al- 
though it was adopted without a single dissenting 
voice, is to-day habitually disregarded. 

The power to regulate imposts was given to Con- 
gress, and, lest that power should be exerted to arrest 
the importation of slaves, it was restricted in its ap- 
plication to that traffic until the year 1808. Is it 
not clear that, but for these provisions of the Con- 
stitution — provisions inserted to secure an increase 
of slaves to protect that property, and to enable the 
Southern States to maintain their balance in the 
confederacy — they never would have come into the 
Union? Turn to the debates in Convention, and you 
will find sj^read ujDon their pages ample proof of the 
determination of these states never to consent to the 
creation of a government that did not contain the 
most explicit provisions for the protection of their 
property, then and thereafter. The pages of the Fed- 
eralist afibrd the most unmistakable evidence of the 
same fact. Alexander Hamilton, in advocating the 
adoption of the Constitution before the State Con- 
vention of New York, stated that the provision enu- 
merating three fifths of the slaves as the basis of rep- 
resentation was insisted upon resolutely by the South- 
ern States, and that, but for this concession, they 
would have refused to come into the Union. In the 
great debate upon the admittance of Missouri, one of 
the ablest advocates of the restrictive measure which 
the North sought to impose upon that state (Mr. 
Sergeant, of Pennsylvania) made the important admis- 
sion that the risrht of the slaveholdina; states to their 



246 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

property is paramount to the Constitution itself; that 
there is no express grant in the Constitution for lim- 
iting slavery upon the admittance of new states ; and 
that to preserve the balance of the states then and 
thereafter^ the rule of three fifths was adopted. 

Sir, let it be borne in mind that the balance be- 
tween the Southern States, which were to continue 
slaveholding and planting states, and the Northern 
States, was to be preserved. We can not now con- 
sent to abandon the ground which wc have held from 
the establishment of the government. Any policy 
which proposes now to lessen the security of our prop- 
erty — to shake the guarantees by which we enjoy it 
— to disturb the weight which we hold in tlie confed- 
eracy, will encounter, on our part, uncompromising 
opposition. 

The great question was revived upon the applica- 
tion of Missouri to become a state of the Union. The 
territory out of which that state was formed had been 
acquired from France by the influence of the South. 
Under the Northern policy, Louisiana would never 
have been acquired; indeed, under the influence of 
Northern statesmen, a treaty was at one time nearly 
concluded, relinquishing the right to navigate the 
southern waters of the Mississippi. Mr. Pinckney, 
of South Carolina, with the aid of other statesmen 
who took the Southern view of the question — who 
comprehended the importance of bringing that exten- 
sive region under our dominion, and especially of se- 
curing the mouth of the Mississippi — undertook and 
carried out the great measure which acquired for us 
that magnificent accession to our wealth and our pow- 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 247 

er. Yet, sir, when Missouri applied for admittance 
into the Union^ the Northern statesmen demanded 
that the South should be excluded from all partici- 
pation in the benefits of the acquisition which they 
had made, and they actually succeeded in subjecting 
the South to a compromise, or, rather, a capitulation, 
which limited slavery within the parallel of thirty- 
six degrees and a half north latitude in all the terri- 
tory acquired from France. 

That extensive region was at that time a slave- 
holding region ; yet this limitation of slavery was de- 
manded by the North, and the line of 36° 30^ was 
stretched across it, cutting off the South from a large 
share of the acquisition to which she had mainly con- 
tributed ; and independent states, since formed out 
of territory which was at that time oj^en to slavery, 
have entered the Union to throw their weio;ht ao;ainst 
the interest and the policy of the slaveholding states. 
Yes, su, the North actually appropriated a large share 
of the territory which was acquired in the face of its 
policy ; and to-day, when another aggression is at- 
temj^ted against the rights and the honor of the South- 
ern States, when the people of those states threaten 
to resist the aggi-ession, they are told that the mouth 
of the Mississippi shall be wrested from their do- 
minion, and that its waters shall be ever free to the 
people of the North. The mouth of the Mississij)pi 
— acquired by the genius and the policy of Southern 
statesmen — the mouth of the Mississippi, emptying 
its tribute in a far southern latitude — the mouth of 
the Mississippi is to be held by the power of the 
North, even if these states should form themselves 



-18 ADMISSION OF O.Vl.lKOKMA. 

into sopnnito contl\lor;U'ios. 1 i\u-nost|^\- trust tlint 
tho iniion ot" those stntos will lun or bo ln\>kon up ; 
that tho aggressions whloh threaten to destroy it mav 
bo arrested, and that tlie uiight\ waves of tho Hoods 
whieh dash against it niav be stilled b\- the hand 
mightier than the waters; but it" a eoiu'so ol'oontiu- 
nal wrong on the part ot" the Wn'th shoidd dri\e the 
people ot" tho Southern States into resistance; it", un- 
liappily, this govornnient shall bo rent asunder, you 
may rest assured, sir, the mouth ot" tho IMississippi 
Avill belong ro the South. 

Texas has boon annexed to tho United States; 
and one ofiho conditions ot' its admittance was, that 
in such states as might bo formed ont of its territory 
north of tho Missouri Compromise line, slavery slundd 
bf prohibited. There was a ready disposition to rec- 
ognize this eompromiso lino when it was to bo ap- 
plied to a slavoholding territory. 

Such, sir, is the history of the controversy Avhich 
gTOAv up between tho North and the South in regard 
to slavery from tho establishment of tho goveriunent 
up to the present moniont. To-day we find ourselves 
once more confronted, and the relative attitude of the 
two sections is in perfect harmony with their past his- 
torv. The North is still atlvanciug M'irh its aggres- 
sions, more imperious than it has over boon botore, 
and the South, now thoroughly aroused to a sense of 
danger as well as of wrong, demands only an equita- 
ble participation in our recent acquisition. In turn- 
ing to tho history of om- country, I look upon the 
course of the Southern States with the highest satis- 
faction. Thov have stood bv the Constitution in the 



ADMTHKTOy OF CAIJFORKTA. 249 

noblc-it Hy/irh; thay hixvh U>rrjo th/; prer^surc oi' thh 
frovarmiKiiit ; they havrj witnf^rinn'A the. utAHifly (h-j-yinc 
f)t' t.hf'jr cornmorcial \>r()6]>firity', thny hixvh Htfinn xUftir 
arnporiiimii larifpmh and their ships (Ur^y; yat, nu- 
<\<tr all this a^lver»^i i'()nnn(u t?iey have stood by the 
c/jiintry; thf^y have ask/yl no leirislation for their Wj- 
efit ; they have \f<mr(A their wf^ahh into } our tn^-s- 
ury ; they have »e^.'n it ^cj^tUirfA without stint in oth- 
er parts of the cjmffAar'dcy ', yat, with a yatrUAma 
unehilk^l by time and undirniniiih^:^! by wrong, tfif^y 
have stood by the c/mutry ; they have sf^it their souls 
to fight your l^>attles, and they have rayncAA m your 
prosj>^;rity. I may well say this; for, tipon (mtamifi 
Congress in the wint^er of 184.5. I found the goverii- 
ment engag^j<^l in an ixn<rry dis/;ussion with Grr^at Brit- 
ain T(t^}<'J:t^ll^ ()y('/j^ox\, a remote northwestern t/;rri- 
tory, in which the South c/juld have no possible in- 
terest Ixivond the c/mmiori intfirf^ which we all fe^d in 
maintaining the rights and the honor of the mxtif/TL 
Yet I unhesitatingly expres.s/;d my determination to 
assert the claim of the United Htutt^% and to main- 
tain it at whatf^ver cost. Other Hf>ut\tfini genth^rnen 
did the same thing ; and it is a ^t. perhaps n'/t gen- 
erally known, that the bill raising men and providing 
supplies for the war with >Iexior> was originally in- 
tandfA to prepare the country for a ijnix/t^. with Great 
Britain. 

Wliat are our relations T/>>iay? Slaving just 
(iififiT^fA from a war vrith 3>lexico, in which the H^mth 
bore its part well to say no morfi. and Jiaving c/^^n- 
dudfcd a treaty of p*^^ce which leaves as in posses- 
sion of an extensive territ/>ry overrun by our arms — 



250 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

a territory stretching from about the thirty-second to 
the forty-second j^arallel of north latitude, it is now 
demanded by the North that the people of the slave- 
holding states shall be excluded from any share in 
the acquisition, unless they consent, in migrating 
thither, to abandon an imjDortant part of their prop- 
erty, and to change their whole habit of life. It is 
insisted by the Northern States that slavery shall be 
arrested — that it shall be extended no farther in any 
direction — that it is to be forever hedged Avithin its 
present limits. This is your demand. 

You are, sir, acting uj^on Clarkson's advice, who, 
not content with destroying the prosperity of the 
British West Indies, tendered his advice to the abo- 
litionists of the United States. He ^vi'ote: "You 
must either separate yourselves from all political con- 
nection with the South, and make your own laws, or, 
if you do not choose such a separation, you must 
break up the political ascendency which the Southern 
have for so long a time had over the Northern 
States.'' You demand that the equipoise heretofore 
established between the northern and southern por- 
tions of the Union shall be destroyed ; that from this 
time forth there shall be, on the part of the slave- 
holding states, no participation in any of the acqui- 
sitions which this republic may make. 

The whole action of the government henceforth is 
to be for your benefit ; the fruits of our diplomacy, 
the triumphs of our arms, the outlay of our wealth, 
the progress of our power, all are to be yours, and 
we are to hold an inferior, dependent, abject relation 
to you. Either you denounce us as unworthy to as- 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 251 

sociate with you as equal states because of the im- 
morality of our institutions, or you seek to acquire 
over us a political advantage. We can submit nei- 
ther to the one relation nor the other. If, with the 
spirit of the Pharisee, you lift up your hands, and 
thank God that you are better than we are ; if, turn- 
ing your backs upon a region cursed with slavery, 
you survey with complacency your better heritage, 
we may submit with some composure to the exhibi- 
tion ; but if, overlooking all evils at home — the crime, 
the wretchedness, the pauperism in your midst, you 
enter upon an itinerant search after moral disorders 
at a distance, compassing sea and land to bring the 
slaveholders of the South under the influence of your 
fatal philanthropy ; if, not content with hurling your 
anathemas against us, you bring the power of this 
government to the aid of your schemes, we shall take 
measures to convince you of our fixed purpose to re- 
pel aggressions upon our political rights. 

We, sir, have hitherto borne your assaults, your 
criticisms, your homilies — the tide of vulgar abuse, 
which has for half a century poured forth against us 
from declaimers, newspaper writers, and pamphlet- 
eers ; we have even submitted to bear the insulting 
resolutions of the Legislatures of co-ordinate states ; 
we have borne the agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion, when that very agitation is as clear, though not 
as gross, a violation of our right to hold slaves as 
to have them taken out of our possession; for it 
must be acknowledged that there is a mere difference 
of degi^ee between having a right questioned and as- 
saulted and having it wrested away; we have borne 



252 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

the constant evasion of the constitutional provis- 
ion to surrender fugitives from labor — all, all this 
we have borne; but your demand now to apj^ropri- 
ate the entire territory acquired from Mexico at the 
close of a national war in which the whole country 
participated, the declaration of your fixed purpose to 
bind down the slaveholding states within their pres- 
ent limits, has aroused a spirit which you will find it 
no easy task to subdue. Survey, sir, the whole ex- 
tent of that wide-spread region, beginning at the Po- 
tomac, which rolls its waters in our view, to the al- 
most tropical plains of Southern Texas, and you will 
see signs which may well fix your attention ; one 
s]3U"it moves the entire mass of awakened and indig- 
nant freemen. You may almost hear the tones in 
which they announce their solemn purpose, not only 
to resist your threatened encroachments, but to de- 
mand guarantees for their future safety. 

If it be your settled policy to deny the slavehold- 
ing states any particij^ation in the territory now be- 
longing to us, or hereafter to belong to us, then the 
time is come when the Southern States must decide 
a grave question — either to submit to a gradual but 
perfectly certain change in their organic structure, or 
to resist the threatened encroachment on their rights 
at every hazard. 

It is no imaginary ^^Tong of which we complain ; 
it is a colossal, overshadowing evil against which we 
contend. Our honor and our existence are alike in- 
volved in the issue. Tlie cause which threatens to 
disturb our peace and plunge us into convulsions may 
seem to you a slight one ; but let me remind you that 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 253 

slight causes have given rise to the fiercest and most 
desolating wars which history records. The plow- 
ing up a few acres of sacred soil plunged the states 
of Greece into a sanguinary conflict ; an attempt to 
collect ship-money shook the empire of England, 
drove Hampden to the field, where he lost his life in 
one of the first battles ever fought for constitutional 
liberty, and brought the anointed head of a Idng to 
the block ; while a tax of a few cents on a jDound of 
tea drove the British colonies into a war which broke 
the dominion of the British government, and left 
them independent states. No, sir, it is no imaginary 
wrong of which we complain. Your act which ex- 
cludes us from the territory of the United States de- 
cides a great principle against us ; it involves the 
very existence of the Southern States. 

If we submit, we have examples before our eyes of 
the condition to which we shall be reduced. Ireland 
— luxuriant, fertile, degraded, starving Ireland — is a 
picture of what we should be. With her representa- 
tion in Parliament, she constitutes nominally a por- 
tion of the British empire, yet the policy of that 
empire degrades and ruins her. What battle has 
been fought of late years by British arms where Irish 
blood has not been freely spilled, and where Irish val- 
or has not contributed to win the day? In all the 
bloody fields of the Peninsula, between the Pyrenees 
and the AI23S, they bore the British ensign in triumph 
against the marshals of France, and at Waterloo 
they upheld it for Wellington against the magnifi- 
cently stern array which Napoleon mustered in per- 
son. But what has this done for Ireland? When 



254 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

her sons, unable longer to bear her degradation and 
her "wretchedness, speak out for their country and de- 
nounce the power which oppresses and crushes her, 
they are torn from her bosom, and if they escape the 
scaffold, they are sent into banishment manacled with 
felons. To-day every Southern man Avalks erect, with 
conscious dignity ; he surveys the whole country with 
patriotic pride ; he sits in the council of the nation 
an equal among equals. He can never consent to be 
degraded from this position, to have the section from 
which he comes placed under the ban of the govern- 
ment, and to have the people whom he represents 
brought into an inferior relation to it. A resistance 
to the aggressions with which we are threatened can 
bring us no worse fate than this. If we could hope 
to escape the physical deterioration which would cer- 
tainly folloAv a submission to the policy to which it 
is proposed to subject us, we should sink into a moral 
degradation far worse. The scholar who approaches 
Athens from the sea forgets her orators, her poets, 
and all the ruined glory of her once unrivaled archi- 
tecture, and fixes his eye upon the tomb of Themisto- 
cles. In flinging a glance upon the sea and the land, 
every thing is forgotten but the battles of freedom 
which consecrated every spot the eye takes in. The 
illustrious people who once dwelt there, holding slaves 
as Ave do, maintained their national existence by pre- 
serving a spirit Avhich resisted all attempts at inva- 
sion. The Southern States can maintain their joosi- 
tion in the Union only by cultivating a spirit Avhich 
makes their people stand ready to defend their equal 
claim to the benefits of the government against every 
assault. 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 255 

In settling this great question, then, I shall insist 
ujDon a recognition of our right to a full participation 
in the late acquisition of territory. I do not care to 
measure exactly the extent of territory, and divide 
acres with precision, but the principle must be ad- 
mitted, the gi'cat.princij^le, that in the division of the 
property of the United States, and in the enjoyment 
of political rights, the people of the slaveholding 
states hold a perfect equality. As to the Wilmot 
Proviso, sir, I do not fear its application to the ter- 
ritory ; the truth is, you have no right to adopt it, 
and no power to enforce it. But I should be unjust 
to the gentlemen from the non-slaveholding states if 
I did not express my gratification at the manly course 
of those who, a few days since, voted doAvn the reso- 
lution which instructed a committee of this House to 
report a bill containing it. You profess to derive 
your power over the subject from the Constitution, 
and many of you rest it on the second clause of the 
third section of the fourth article, which declares, 
"That Congress shall have power to dispose of, and 
make all needful rules and regulations resjDccting the 
territory or other property belonging to the United 
States ;" but has it never occurred to you that the 
very same clause jDroceeds to declare, "And nothing 
in this Constitution shall be so construed as to preju- 
dice any claims of the United States or of any par- 
ticular state?" If you construe this restriction upon 
the power of Congress so as to make it apj)ly to the 
interests of the states in the mere property of the 
United States or its proceeds, you must at the same 
time admit that the first part of the clause grants no 



256 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

greater jurisdiction than the control of the property, 
and confers no political power. In other words, if 
you derive the power of Congress to govern the Ter- 
ritories from the clause we are now considering, you 
must take the latter part of the clause as a restriction 
upon the grant of j)ower. It is much to be doubted 
whether you have the right to govern the Territories 
of the United States to any greater extent than to 
legislate for the benefit of the public property. 

By referring to the debates in Convention upon 
the adoption of the Constitution, you will find that a 
proposition was brought forward to give Congress 
power to create governments for the people of the 
Territories of the United States ; before the proposi- 
tion came to be acted on, it was modified, and the 
clause to which I have referred is the j^rovision to 
which the Convention agreed. 

Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, in his speech 
upon the Missouri question, to which I have already 
referred, says. Certainly no power to legislate against 
the interest of any state, even before the Territories 
are admitted as states, was conferred by the Conven- 
tion upon Congress. Mr. Pinckney, it Avill be re- 
membered, was a member of the Convention, and he 
does not hesitate to give the opinion which I have 
stated. 

I shall frankly declare, for myself, I prefer to set- 
tle tliis question by adopting the Missouri ComjDro- 
mise line in the sense in which it was originally ap- 
plied to the territory acquired from France ; it is a 
marked line ; it has the force of precedent ; a certain 
moral poAver attaches to it, and it is supposed to lim- 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 257 

it the northern boundary beyond which the natural 
products which employ slave labor profitably can not 
pass. 

Let that line be stretched to the Pacific, and let the 
stormy debates and the angry dissensions which now 
shake the o-overnment sink into the bosom of that 

o 

broad ocean. This will give the North much the 
larger share of the territory, the whole acquisition 
being about five hundred and twenty-six thousand 
and seventy-eight square miles. The parallel of thir- 
ty-six degrees and a half, if stretched across it, Avould 
leave the North in possession of three hundred and 
thirty-seven thousand, three hundred and fifty-five 
square miles, and would leave the South one hundi-ed 
and eighty-eight thousand, seven hundred and twenty- 
eight square miles, making an excess in favor of the 
North of about one hundred and fifty thousand square 
miles. 

But I do not care for this. I wish to settle the 
question, and I wish to settle it upon such terms as 
will relieve the Southern States from the ban of the 
government, and secure a recognition of their rights. 

When it was proposed last winter to admit Cali- 
fornia as a state, authorizing the inhabitants then 
there to form a Constitution with that object, I op- 
posed it. I stood ready to recognize the right of the 
people to provide a government for themselves, but 
I was unwilling to subject the vast territory to the 
jurisdiction of the inhabitants then there. I believed 
it would residt in the sacrifice of the substantial 
rights of the Southern people. A regiment raised 
in the interior of New York, for the express purpose 

R 



258 ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 

of colonizing California had been sent out by the late 
Secretary of War, and was disbanded there. I could 
not doubt their decision in regard to slavery. I was 
unwilling, too, that the new state should embrace 
within its limits the whole extent of the Pacific coast, 
and I insisted upon a plan of settlement which would 
allow the people of the slaveholding states the oppor- 
tunity of colonizing that country. 

I know, Mr. Chairman, that you, together with the 
present speaker of the House, and several other dis- 
tinguished gentlemen on both sides of the chamber, 
did favor the bill which was brought forward by the 
present Secretary of the Navy, who was at that time 
a member of this House. Others planted themselves 
upon the ground assumed by General Cass, who 
thought it best to leave the people in the full enjoy- 
ment of the rights of self-government. I know that 
a great change has taken 23lace in the numbers and 
character of the population now there ; but I still in- 
sist, if California is to come into the Union, let the 
state be admitted with the Missouri Compromise line 
for its southern boundary, and let us settle the whole 
question upon that line, or let us have some other 
equivalent which recognizes the right of a slavehold- 
ing people to divide the territory, and to reside there 
in the enjoyment of their property. As to the fact 
that the people of the Territory of California have 
thought proper to adopt a state Constitution in ad- 
vance of any preliminary action on the part of Con- 
gress, I do not regard that as a very serious obstacle. 
An act on our part now admitting the state would 
relate back to the original proceeding, and would le- 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 259 

galize it. Such a course on our part would not be 
without late precedents in its favor. 

As to the provision of the Constitution in respect 
to slavery, I suppose no one would desire to make 
that a subject of deVjate here, and least of all will any 
Southern man consent to let the question of the ad- 
mittance of the state turn upon that point. The 
right of the people creating a state government to 
determine that question for themselves is perfectly 
clear, and, for one, I shall never consent to have it 
questioned. 

And here, sir, allow me to say, that I have heard 
with profound regret the remarks which have been 
made by some gentlemen on this floor in regard to 
the course which the President has thought proper to 
pursue toward the inhabitants of California. His 
patriotism needs no vindication here ; it is attested 
by a long career in the public service, and it has been 
illustrated upon hard-fought fields, where the great 
ensign of the republic floating above him caught new 
lustre from his achievements. Such assaults can not 
harm him. They are powerless ; and it will yet be 
found that his hold upon the confidence and afl*ection 
of his country can not be shaken. He thought it 
best to encourage the people of California to prepare a 
state government, but he did not for a moment attempt 
to interfere with the free exercise of the rights of the 
citizens in fixing the character of that government. 

In deciding the great question which is before us, 
let party be forgotten, and let us remember our coun- 
try. Let us settle this great controversy which to- 
day threatens to overthrow the noblest government 



260 ADMISSION OP CALIFORNIA. 

upon which the sun has ever shone. It is full of 
danger. Gentlemen may not be enabled to realize it, 
but the controversy is full of danger. It is stated in 
a late British magazine that the government of that 
powerful empire was, in April, 1848, in great danger 
of being overthrown; that if, out of the six thousand 
soldiers who at that time mustered in the metropolis,^ 
one half of the number had gone over to the people, 
the government would have gone down. 

The events of an hour may destroy the noblest 
fabrics. The oak, through whose branches the tem- 
pest has swept for a century, yields up its strength to 
a single flash of the lightning. I desire, most ear- 
nestly desire, to save the Union. Those of us who 
contend for the rights of the South must not be 
charged with treason against it. We are the true 
friends of the Union, but we desire to maintain the 
government in its purity. We can not submit to the 
tranquillity which a despotism would impose. AVe 
hold that political truth is like revealed truth : let it 
first be "pure, then peaceable." 

Deal with us justly ; meet us in the spirit which 
animated the men who sat side by side in the Conven- 
tion which established the Constitution under which 
we live ; recognize us as a kindred people ; admit our 
claims to a full particij^ation in the benefits of a com- 
mon government ; legislate for this whole country as 
your country in all its amplitude, and you will find 
us ready to go on with you in the great future which 
opens before us, prepared to share your fortunes, for 
good or for evil, through all the vicissitudes which it 
may bring — '"''Animis^ opihusqiie 2^(^'^cttV 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 261 

As we now stand, confronted in angry controversy, 
I am sure that I may say, while the people I repre- 
sent will contribute every thing to maintain the gov- 
ernment in its just and equal action, they will never 
submit to acts of oppression ; they will give wealth 
and life itself to maintain your power and defend 
your honor, but, as one man, they will adojjt the lan- 
guage of one of the most distinguished statesmen of 
South Carolina, no longer living, "Millions for de- 
fense, not a cent for tribute." 



At the close of his remarks, Mr. Hilliard gave notice 
of his intention to offer an amendment to the resolu- 
tion, proposing to refer that j)ortion of the message 
relating to the Territories, so as to instruct the Com- 
mittee on Territories to report a bill for the protec- 
tion of the citizens of the United States in their j)rop- 
erty, of whatever description, in the territories ac- 
quired from Mexico by the treaty of Guadaluj^e Hi- 
dalgo. 



EXPLANATION— PERSONAL AND PO- 
LITICAL. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, MARCH 7th, 1850. 

Mr. Hilliard rose and said : 

Mr. Chairman, — The Methodist Episcopal Church, 
with which I have been connected since I attained 
manhood, devolves on certain of its members, engaged 
in the various pursuits of life, the duty of enforcing 
occasionally in public the religious truths held by 
that body of Christians. This duty has been de- 
volved on me by that Church. I am not insensible 
to the criticism to which it subjects me ; but such are 
my convictions in regard to the duty, that I have no 
purpose of relinquishing it while I live. A sense of 
this religious obligation has restrained me on all oc- 
casions, in my intercourse with society, from any de- 
parture from the most perfect courtesy. Since my 
connection with the Congress of the United States, I 
have habitually forborne to trespass on the rights, or 
even the feelings, of any of its members. If on any 
occasion I had done so from inadvertence, I should, 
when reminded of it, have promptly repaired the 
wrong. My self-respect, as well as a sense of justice, 
dictated this course ; and that I have uniformly ad- 
hered to it, is well known to gentlemen with whom I 
have had the honor to serve on this floor for years 
j)ast. I may safely appeal to gentlemen on both 



EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 263 

sides of the chamber to sustain me in this state- 
ment. 

On the other hand, I have at all times supposed 
that no gentleman would allow himself to allude in 
any offensive sense to my religious profession. There 
exists a strong disposition in vulgar minds to do this, 
but I believe that no one has so far violated the rules 
of decorum as to do so, with two exceptions. 

A member from Pennsylvania, who addressed the 
committee some days since, felt himself at liberty to 
urge me to call on my illustrious friend, as he styled 
the President of the United States, and announce to 
him, in inspired language, his impending doom. He 
selected the very language which I was to utter in 
the ear of the President, "Accursed is the man-steal- 
er;" and I was to add to this a solemn entreaty to 
him to abandon his slave property, if he desired to 
escape the divine wrath. I shall not offer a single 
remark in regard to the offensiveness of this language, 
in its application to the chief magistrate of the na- 
tion, or to myself as a member of this House, but 
shall leave it to that prompt condemnation which it 
will meet from every man who has any just sense of 
propriety. 

The other exception to which I refer is the mem- 
ber from North Carolina, who spoke yesterday. That 
member thought proper to charge me, without a sin- 
gle provocation on my part, with "desecrating the 
Scriptures, by quotations from them urging the citi- 
zens of the United States to shed each other's blood ;" 
and he proceeded farther to charge me with a design 
to break up this Union. These charges were gratu- 



264 EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 

itously made. It was not my purpose to interfere 
with the member in the course of his speech. His 
very gross allusion to me drew from me an unpre- 
meditated and indignant denial. Gross as the assault 
upon me was — none could be more so — I should have 
replied to it in less offensive language. A moment's 
reflection would have enabled me to do so, but my 
indignation was, for the moment, irrepressible. I 
pronounced it ' ' false, " as it most certainly was. Still, 
sir, however little respect was due to the member who 
could bring against me such an atrocious charge, I 
ought to have checked an indignation which, how- 
ever natural It is to feel under such an outrage, im- 
pelled me to make a harsher reply than I could have 
desired to make in a cooler moment. But, sir, it 
was an impulse which every generous man will at 
once understand and excuse. 

In looking around this arena, Mr. Chairman, the 
member had a perfect right to select his adversary ; 
but, however much the world may applaud the dis- 
cretion with which the member exercised his right in 
singling me out, it will not be likely to award him an 
ovation for any success which he may win in the con- 
test. He thought it proper — perhaps I should say 
prudent — to pass by all others, and to throAv his 
gauntlet immediately at my feet as he entered the 
gladiatorial ring, at the moment in which he referred 
to me in a manner which almost every other member 
of the House but himself would have felt should 
shield me from assault. I repeat, sir, the world may 
applaud the member's discretion, whatever it may say 
of his manliness. 



EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 265 

Now, sir, I deny that I have on any occasion em- 
ployed the Scriptures for the purpose which the mem- 
ber charges on me. Indeed, I have never di*awn upon 
them, as I remember, for any purpose whatever in 
the debates of this House. I have never sought to 
vindicate slavery by a single quotation from them. 
In my late speech, I expressly declined to argue the 
question affecting the rights of the people represent- 
ed by me, in respect to slavery, on moral grounds, 
because the argument would admit the jurisdiction of 
the forum ; and I urged none but political consider- 
ations in support of those rights. 

Much less, sir, have I at any time sought to bring 
the authority of the sacred volume to the support of 
violent measures. I distinctly and emphatically re- 
pel the charge. Let my speech be examined, and it 
will be found that the charge of the member from 
North Carolina is without even the coloring of truth. 
It was, I am confident, hastily uttered. It proceeded 
from the unbalanced character of that member s mind, 
and his malignant disposition toward Southern mem- 
bers, who might be supposed ready to condemn his 
extraordinary course at this critical conjuncture. If 
I had thought proper to search the Scriptures for 
guidance at this time, I am quite sure that I should 
have found nothing in them to encourage an aban- 
donment of duty by one who is intrusted by his con- 
stituents with the high functions of a representative, 
nor to favor a treasonable surrender, on his jmrt, of 
the rights which he was chosen to uphold and defend. 
I am here as the representative of others. Their 
rights are committed to my keeping. Whatever I 



266 EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 

may encounter, I shall vigorously and faithfully con- 
tend for those rights. I find nothing in human or di- 
vine teachings to encourage me to do otherwise. On 
the contrary, if I could shrink from their mainte- 
nance because of any apprehension of encountering 
opposition from the open enemies or false friends of 
those rights, I should incur the censure of the whole 
Christian and political world. In my late speech I 
made a single brief quotation from the Scriptures, 
the object of which could not be tortured to mean 
what the member has charged, but asserted what ev- 
ery one must admit to be true, that in a constitutional 
government, political truth, like revealed truth, must 
be open to the freest discussion — a right denied only 
by a despotic government, which enforces tranquillity 
by the crushing might of power, and formidable only 
to tyrants and to traitors. 

• The other charge brought by the member, in his 
heedless manner, as to my disposition to break up 
the Union, is also without any foundation in fact. 
It is an error into which he has fallen from the pres- 
ent temper of his mind, which inclines him to sus- 
pect every Southern man, who says a word in behalf 
of his section, of hostility to the Union. All such 
members he undertakes to arraign and censure. 

I challenge him or any other member of this House 
to produce a single remark of mine which favors the 
scheme of disunion. No man living is more pro- 
foundly devoted to the Union than I am. We owe 
to it our prosperity, our power, and our glory. Its 
destruction would involve our own country in irre- 
trievable ruin, and it would spread dismay through 



EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 267 

the ranks of the friends of liberty in every part of 
the world. 

So far from looking to its disruption as a remedy 
for political evils, I would jDut my life in peril, at any 
hour, to save it. To my vision it seems to be invest- 
ed with dangers. I have pointed them out. I have 
appealed earnestly to the patriotism of this body to 
save the Union by a wise, just, and noble use of 
power. This would avert impending troubles, while 
it would insure for the whole country a glorious fu- 
ture. It would strengthen the Union. I claim to 
be as true a friend to the Union as the member from 
North Carolina. We differ in this : I stand with my 
people ; he takes occasion, at this conjuncture, when 
his section is threatened by the overwhelming power 
of a majority, to approach the feet of power, and to 
give it whatever aid his abilities or his position may 
enable him to furnish. He sj^oke of the Avrongs 
which his section has endured in terms which were 
listened to with satisfaction only by those who op- 
pose the very rights which he was sent here to uphold 
and vindicate. His course of remark could hardly 
fail to fill Southern men with indignation, and even 
Northern men with contempt. He goes over the 
whole field of controversy, and can not find a single 
grievance of which the South has a right to complain 
— not even the disregard of the constitutional provis- 
ion to surrender fugitives from labor, which Northern 
2;entlemen themselves admit to be a wrons^. He be- 
comes, indeed, the champion of the majority; invites 
them to press their measures, and threatens his own 
people, if they resist, with the military 2)0wer of the 
government. 



268 EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POUTICAL. 

However ready I may be, on all proper occasions, 
to do homage to the high qualities of the North, I 
can not, at a moment like this, when the whole 
strength of that powerful section of the Union is ar- 
rayed against the South, hesitate to take part Avith 
the people among whom Providence has cast my lot, 
in the great struggle through which they are now 
passing. Nor can I comprehend how any Southern 
man, acquainted with the history of his country, fa- 
miliar with the wrongs to which the South has been 
subjected in regard to the question now before Con- 
gress, can for a moment forget or forsake the cause 
of that generous and gallant people. The nobler sym- 
pathies of our nature, in the absence of all the obli- 
gations of patriotism, should imj)el us to range our- 
selves on the side of the feeble against the strong. 
The course of the member from North Carolina seems 
to me to outrage both ; it does violence alike to the 
nobler impulses of our nature and to the dictates of 
patriotism ; and, whether it is considered in regard 
to me or to his country, it is not likely to be com- 
mended for its elevation, its generosity, or its manli- 
ness. 

A gentleman from New York, who sits before me, 
I observe, intimates that he approves the course of 
the gentleman from North Carolina in coming to the 
aid of the North at this conjuncture, and says that the 
gentleman from North Carolina sees things through 
the same medium that he does. That is more than I 
have charged ; for the gentleman from New York has, 
on every occasion when a question came up affecting 
the rififhts of the South, voted against the South. He 



EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 269 

lias, on every occasion, from first to last, voted for 
the Wilmot Proviso, and sustained Gott's resolution 
as to slavery in the District of Columbia. 

These gentlemen, sir — the one coming from New 
York, and the other from North Carolina — sent here 
by constituencies so widely differing upon this ques- 
tion, see things through the same medium ! 

I thank the gentleman from New York for the 
timely remark. He admits the extraordinary posi- 
tion of the member from North Carolina, and he ac- 
counts for it by saying that they "see things through 
the same medium." Such are the commendations 
which a Southern representative receives when he 
lends himself to carry out the objects of Northern 
power. 

Sir, when at home, I did what I could to allay sec- 
tional feeling. I spoke for the Union. I pointed to 
its glorious ensign, floating in conscious pride over 
this broad continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and borne by our adventurous seamen into all the 
waters of the globe. I urged the people who sm'- 
rounded me, and to whom the wildest appeals were 
addressed by those Avho undertook to ride me down, 
to cherish a patriotic regard for the whole country ; 
and I assured them that no act of aggression on their 
rights would be made by Congress, and that, if it were 
attempted, the act would be arrested by the President 
of their choice. But, sir, standing here, in the midst 
of the representatives of other states, I have felt it 
to be my duty to resist every measure which Avould 
be regarded by the people for whom I speak as an en- 
croachment on their rights or their honor, and to urge 



270 EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 

upon this great body, representing the whole country, 
the views which they entertain of a question which so 
deeply affects them. To have done otherwise would, 
in my judgment^ have been a gross abandonment of 
duty — duty to my immediate constituents and to my 
whole country. While I have thus aimed to do my 
duty here faithfully and efficiently, I have, in my cor- 
respondence with those I represent, contributed what 
I could to encourage a sound sentiment at home — to 
repress rather than to excite dissatisfaction. I have 
stated my hope in the just action of Congress, and 
my confidence in the President. I have discouraged 
all movements toward effecting a sectional organiza- 
tion, believing that an occasion would not arise call- 
ing for any other means of redress than those which 
the forms of the government afford. In the early 
part of the session, when it was impossible to foresee 
what would be done, I joined my colleagues in ad- 
dressing a letter to the governor, in the hope that the 
real sentiment of the people of Alabama would be ut- 
tered in firm and moderate resolutions on the part of 
the Legislature, and that the executive of the state 
w^ould be empowered, in the event of a serious ag- 
gression being made by the government upon their 
rights, to bring the subject before the people them- 
selves, to decide upon it as they alone have the right 
to do. 

Such, sir, has been my course, adopted under a 
high sense of duty. My aim has been to maintain 
the rights of the people represented by me, and, at 
the same time, to avert from the Union every cause 
of trouble — so little do I deserve to be classed with 



EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 271 

those who desire to break up the Union. God grant 
that it may outride every storm ! 

It is not to be denied that to those who represent a 
feeble section it must sometimes appear to be imprac- 
ticable. Their constituents depend for their security 
upon a strict observance of the organic law. This 
they must insist upon. It may put them in conflict 
with a majority — their firmness may even threaten 
shocks to the system — but they must hold their posi- 
tion ; for when they abandon it, they surrender the 
rights which they Avere appointed to guard to the 
unchecked dominion of power. This government, 
Avithout the Constitution, would be an absolute des- 
potism. 

Those of us who have contended for the rights of 
the Southern people, and have demanded for them 
the protection of the government, may be denounced 
for a time ; traitors may assail us ; the surges will 
dash against us ; but when the storm is gone by, and 
the great question now before us is settled, reason and 
truth will reassert their dominion, and will vindicate 
us against the charge of faction. It will then be seen 
how much we have contributed to restore the action 
of the government to its true course, and that de- 
termined resistance to aggression is the only effectual 
mode of maintaining conservative principles. 

In our contests here, sir, this must be borne in 
mind. In the language of Edmund Burke, "some- 
thing must be allowed to the sj)irit of liberty." I 
shall do my duty; no considerations shall deter me 
from it — no reproaches can discourage — no threats 
can intimidate me. Harmony can only be maintained 



272 EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 

throughout this wide-spread repuljlic by a wise, patri- 
otic, and noble use of power. The people in every 
part of it must feel that their rights are protected. 
To wield the power of the government either to en- 
rich one section at the expense of another, or to de- 
stroy the securities which protect the property of 
every portion of the people, must give rise to dissat- 
isfaction, and if the wrong be heavy enough, it ^vill 
occasion angry and even fatal convulsions. The right 
of revolution resides in every people under heaven ; 
and there are wrongs which will drive them to the 
exercise of it, unless they are already fit to be made 
slaves. No people who comprehend and love liberty 
will bear too heavy a pressure from power. He icho 
stands ready ^ as the representative of a free peopjle^ to 
surrender their rights to the demands of power ^ and 
to proclaim that no wrongs can drive them into resist- 
ance to their government^ is alreaxly dead to the noble 
impulses which can alone pjreserve liberty. 

If, sir, this Union could be maintained by force — 
if it could exist after the whole power of the govern- 
ment came to be employed against the property of 
the people of one half of the states, what generous or 
right-minded man, come from "svhat section he may, 
would not prefer to maintain it by a just exercise of 
the political functions which he holds — by a magnan- 
imous forbearance in the use of strength, than by 
military power ? 

Sir, this Union can be perpetuated — not by force — 
not by bayonets, but by cherishing the spirit which 
gave it its existence, and by a rigid adherence to the 
Constitution. I take this occasion to say that I ask 



EXPLANATIOK PERSONAL AS I) i'OLlTICAL. 273 

for rjo arncrHlmorit to the Corjstitutiorj ; let it fitand; 
lot it bo obsorvod in lott/^r and in spirit May it bo 
perpetual! I do not dosiro to t}jro\7 any additional 
obstacles in the way of a spoody settlement of tlio 
groat question now ponding. I earnestly desire tr> 
see it disposed of in a spirit which will inspire fresh 
cfjnfidence in the government, and give new strength 
to the Union. 

The mem>>er from North Carolina, in his extraor- 
dinary fipooch yest/irday, did not cont^^nt himself with 
inviting us to a<x;ompany him to the tomb of Wash- 
ington, whither we should all lixive gone as willing 
pilgrims, but he alluded to Jackson in such Utniia as 
to revive party animosities which liave liardly yet 
had time to die out, and whicli, at this moment espo 
cially, ought not to be revived lie spoke of his ex- 
ertions for the preservation of the Union, and of the 
menac/;s which, at a certain period of u\ir country's 
history, Ijo liad utt/^red Ho then passfjd to the 
President of the Unit<;d Stat^is, and hoped tltat the 
same spec-ial ProvidorifM^; Avhich had pres<irve^l the 
lives of the two illustriouB men already alludorl to, 
Avould keep him, and that he too might be able, in 
spit^i of all resistance, to save the Union. How 
would that gentleman wish him to preserve it! liy 
military power! By the exercise of his great abili- 
ties as a military lea<ier ? Sir, I graatly misconceive 
the charao-t/ir of the President if he would not infi- 
niuAy prefer t/j serve his country and to save the Un- 
ion by emplo}'ing pa<;ific mci^asures titan by an app^^al 
to arms. My confidence in the President is unlim- 
ited Recognizing in him ^reat qualities, which fitte^l 

S 



274 EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 

him, as I believed, for a faithful and efficient per- 
formance of executive trusts, I contributed what I 
could to secure his nomination at Philadelphia. I 
had the impression that the member from North 
Carolina was opposed to it. He now informs me 
that he was not, but aided to bring it about. I with 
pleasure accept his statement of the fact, and thank 
him — at least for that. 

He says, however, that he was not in a Methodist 
church in that city. If he had sometimes visited 
such places, his morals and his manners would prob- 
ably both be better than they are to-day. The re- 
mark only discloses the incurable proneness of the 
member to a line of conduct which must prove far 
more injurious to him than it can possibly be to 
others. 

As my position puts it out of my power to appeal 
to the only considerations which seem to be poten- 
tial in holding him to the observance of a decent de- 
meanor, I must, of course, expect to hear from him 
the rudest remarks which his nature can suffffest. 
No one will be at a loss to account for such a display 
of his spirit. 

I was observing, sir, that my confidence in the 
President, so far from being diminished by a personal 
knowledge of him, has gained strength. I, too, look 
to him in this great crisis. The laurels which encir- 
cle his brow have been nobly earned; he does not 
desire to have them crimsoned with fraternal blood. 
History has already claimed his military achieve- 
ments for the brightest pages in which she records 
great exploits. I earnestly hope that the influence 



EXPLANATION PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. 275 

of his high station and his great character will, 
through all his future days, be thrown on the side of 
peace ; that the evening of his life may be crowned 
with even more glorious trophies than war has yield- 
ed him ; that his administration Avill be illustrated 
by an unswerving adherence to the Constitution — by 
a firm protection of the rights of the weak, whenso- 
ever they are threatened by the power of the strong; 
and that his country will hereafter rank him with 
her benefactors, less on account of the victories which 
he has won in the field, than for the triumphs which 
yet await him in a wise, just, and noble performance 
of the duties of the great office to which he has been 
called by the American people. 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, JULY 10th, 1850. 

Mr. Hilliard rose and said, 

Mr. Speaker, — At the suggestion of those in 
whose judgment I have confidence, I rise to offer a 
humble tribute to the memory of the great man who 
has just fallen in our midst. If he were living, I 
should leave others to eulogize him ; as he is dead, I 
choose to speak of him. And yet I am so over- 
whelmed by the event which has just occurred, that 
I can scarcely find language to express what I feel. 
Some events are so impressive that they leave little 
occasion for words — they are too great to be enlarged 
on. I am almost ready to follow the example of a 
great French orator, who, when called on to pro- 
nounce a funeral oration upon a deceased monarch, 
laid his hand upon the head of the dead king, and 
exclaimed, "There is nothing great but God." Sir, 
there is nothing great but God. 

General Taylor s whole career illustrated the high 
qualities which so eminently distinguished him. I 
do not dwell upon his battle-fields — they belong to 
history, and they will find a place upon the brightest 
pages which record such exploits. Nor shall I speak 
of his courage — it is unnecessary ; that is attested by 
hard-fought fields, and brilliant victories won under 
his eye against overwhelming numbers. But I wish 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 277 

to speak of that high sense of duty which character- 
ized his whole life — that steady purpose to do what 
he believed to be right, at all times and in all places. 
In the performance of duty, nothing could move him ; 
he marched directly upon the road where that called 
him. The reference to this trait in his character has 
been appropriately made by the gentleman from Illi- 
nois (Mr. Baker), and it deserves to be observed and 
dwelt upon. To him, as fully as to any one I have 
ever known, may be a^Dplied the high eulogium of 
'"'' incorrupta fided'' — he kept his faith with all men. 
You might dissent from his opinions, you might 
find fault with his judgment, but, when he took his 
position, he kept it; his sense of duty sustained him, 
and opposition only served to make him the more 
steadfast in hold in sf it. 

o 

It is said of Napoleon that the great quality which 
distinguished him, next to his genius, was his love 
of glory; so that when he marched his array into 
Egypt, the appeal which he made to them on the eve 
of battle was, "Soldiers, forty centuries look down 
upon you from these pyramids." 

General Taylor rather resembled Lord Nelson, who, 
when about to engage the enemy's fleet, sent to his 
several officers in command of his shij^s the words, 
"England expects every man to do his dutyy 

This was the constant aim of the illustrious man 
who has just been called away from us. This great 
quality, which sheds such lustre upon his name, gave 
him that success which so uniformly attended him. 
When about to engage in battle at Buena Vista with 
the overwhelming army oj^posed to him, he compre- 



278 DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 

hended the danger which invested him, but he had 
made up his mind that it was his duty to stand there, 
and, in his o^vn beautiful language, Avritten before 
the engagement, "he looked to Providence for a good 
result." 

General Taylor's character was American — dis- 
tinctly and decidedly American. He was invited to 
quit the army and take the chief magistracy of the 
republic. He did so with unaffected reluctance, from 
a sincere distrust of his fitness for such a station. 
But as in the army he had obeyed every order of his 
government, he now obeyed the call of his country- 
men, and, laying aside his plumed hat, his epaulets, 
and his sword, he entered upon the functions of his 
new and great position with an honest purpose to do 
his duty. 

Unlike Caesar, who repelled the proffered crown 
while he coveted it, he came with diffidence to the 
high position to which he had been called, and un- 
ostentatiously employed himself with its appropriate 
duties, his whole course evincing his profound sense 
of the value of constitutional liberty, and his man- 
ners illustrating the beautiful simplicity of his char- 
acter. 

Sir, this illustrious man is called away from us at 
a moment most critical. Never have I known the 
republic in such peril as now suiTounds it. My 
friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Winthrop) has well 
said that it is so clearly an interposition of Providence, 
that he is ready to exclaim, "The chariots of Israel 
and the horsemen thereof' 

Sir, I agree to this. It is an interposition of Prov- 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 279 

idence, and it comes to us in a trying hour. But I 
am not dismayed. My trust in Providence is un- 
shaken. Our country has been delivered, guided, 
made glorious by a good Providence. It will be so 
still. I remember, when the prophet referred to by 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Winthrop) 
Avas surrounded by a hostile force, and all hope of 
escape seemed cut off, that a young man who was 
with him cried out in great fear, and the reply of the 
prophet was a prayer that the young man's eyes 
might be opened. He then saw that all Avithin the 
hostile lines were "chariots and horsemen of fire," 
ready to succor and to deliver the beleaguered city. 
So will it be with us. The dangers which threaten 
us Avill be averted, and, I trust, forever disposed of 

The solemn event which has just occurred will ar- 
rest the angry current which has swept us on so 
fiercely. It imposes a truce, at least for a season, 
upon contending parties. In the mean while, a bet- 
ter feeling may spring up, and we may ask, "Why 
do we struggle with each other ? Are we not breth- 
ren?" The nation will be imj)ressed Avith the be- 
reavement Avhich it has sufiered, and the tide of sor- 
roAV Avhich sAveeps throughout the country will ad- 
monish us to agree in Avise, patriotic, and fraternal 
counsels. The very event Avhich Ave deplore, and 
Avhich we regard as a calamity, Avill be overruled for 
good ; and He that sitteth on high, mightier than the 
Avater-floods, Avill put forth his pOAver and cause a 
great calm. 

Sir, death is at all times a solemn event ; it touches 
both time and eternity ; it terminates an earthly ex- 



280 DEATH OP PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 

istence, it opens an immortal one. But this death 
will strike the world as an event marked by more 
than common solemnity. We mingle our tears over 
the bier of the chief magistrate of a great nation. 
We will honor his memory, and we will claim his 
fame for his whole country. Henceforth he belongs 
to his country, and his name is a part of our common 
inheritance. His last public act was in honor of the 
memory of Washington : he fixed his eyes upon that 
noble monument Avhich is rising to the skies, built up 
by the present generation for one whom all call bless- 
ed. By this time he has, it may be hoped, met the 
revered Father of his Country in a world where their 
companionship will be eternal. His memory is safe 
— no human events can now affect it ; the great qual- 
ities, the private virtues, the public services, all that 
is precious in his memory, has received the seal of 
Death. 

" The love where Death has set his seal, 
Nor age can chill, nor rival steal, 
Nor falsehood disavow." 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEX- 
ICO. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, AUGUST 28th, 1850. 

Mr. Hilliaid said, 

Mr. Speaker, — I feel some reluctance in address- 
ing the House at this time, but the profound anxiety 
with which I regard the state of the country impels 
me to speak. We present the extraordinary specta- 
cle of a people prosperous beyond example, rapidly 
advancing in wealth and power, at peace with every 
nation on the globe, sending our products and the 
fruits of our industry of every description under the 
protection of our flag to all parts of the world, our 
ports crowded with emigrants flying from the oppres- 
sion of European systems of government to seek a 
refuge and a home under our own free institutions, 
yet torn by internal dissensions which threaten to 
overthrow the republic. 

I could not survey this scene with any other feel- 
ing than that of profound apprehension, if it were 
not for the reflection that we hold the subject of con- 
troversy completely within our control. The whole 
task of adjustment is confided to us. The subject so 
long discussed in the Senate has passed from that 
body ; it is now before us ; no other human tribunal 
can decide it ; the responsibility, with all its weight. 



282 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

rests upon us. We can give the country peace, or 
we can withhold it. 

I intend, sir, at whatever hazard or sacrifice of a 
personal kind, to do my duty to the country, and to 
contribute what I can, consistently with my obliga- 
tions as a representative, to the adjustment of the 
great questions which are before us. They are kin- 
dred questions ; some of them may be said to be de- 
pendent on each other. They all grew out of the 
annexation of Texas. 

The first of these questions in dignity and impor- 
tance is that respecting the limits of the State of Tex- 
as. That state claims for her western boundary the 
Rio Grande del Norte, from its mouth to its source, 
and a line thence due north to the forty-second 2:>ar- 
allel of north latitude. Texas was a state of the 
Mexican republic ; she took up arms against that 
government ; thrcAV ofi" its authority ; declared her 
independence, and established it triumphantly upon 
the field of San Jacinto. She proceeded to organize 
a permanent government, and declared her limits. 
Was she entitled to the territory which she claimed 
as an independent state ? Was her title to the coun- 
try lying on the Rio Grande, and which Mexico 
claimed adversely, and in part held by actual occu- 
pancy, good as against that republic ? 

This question depends upon the principle whether 
a state, after a successful revolution, is entitled to the 
territory embraced within her ancient boundaries, or 
whether it is to be confined to the limits within which 
she has actually established her jurisdiction by the 
sword. 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 283 

The independence of Texas was recognized by the 
United States, by Great Britain, by France, and by 
Holland. The ancient limits of the new state stretch- 
ed to the Rio Grande, from its mouth to El Paso. 
It at that time constituted a j)art of an extensive 
country, to all of which the name of Louisiana was 
apjDlied. That province extended to the Rio Grande, 
and this was insisted upon by Mr. Monroe and by 
Mr. Pinckney in 1805, in the most emphatic terms. 
They argued the title of the United States to that 
district of territory, and maintained it. The claim 
had the sanction of Mr. Jefferson, who was at that 
time President, and of Mr. Madison, who was Secre- 
tary of State. Subsequently that part of the prov- 
ince of Louisiana known as Texas was ceded by the 
United States to Spain. Mexico, by a successful 
revolution, wrested the Spanish provinces from that 
power, and Texas became one of the states of the new 
republic. 

By the revolution to which I have already advert- 
ed, she became an independent state, and declared her 
ancient boundaries, with the farther claim to the ter- 
ritory on the Upper Rio Grande. She was proceed- 
ing to bring the whole territory claimed by her un- 
der her jurisdiction at the period of her annexation 
to the United States. 

There might be a difference of opinion as to the 
validity of the title of Texas to the territory bor- 
dering on the Rio Grande, but there is much in her 
history to sustain it. She was an independent state, 
and recognized as such l)y the great powers of the 
world. Mr. Webster, when Secretary of State in 1 84 2, 



284 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

in his characteristic style, marked with clearness and 
power, addressed an emphatic statement of the polit- 
ical condition of Texas to our minister then residins; 
at the city of Mexico : 

' ' From the time of the battle of San Jacinto, in 
April, 1836, to the present moment, Texas has ex- 
hibited the same external signs of national independ- 
ence as Mexico herself, and' with as much stability 
of government. Practically free and independent, 
acknowledged as a political sovereignty by the prin- 
cipal powers of the world, no hostile foot finding rest 
wdthin her territory for six or seven years, and Mex- 
ico herself refraining for all that period from any at- 
tempt to re-establish her own authority over that ter- 
ritory," &c., &c. 

Such was Texas previous to her annexation to the 
United States, a free and independent state, sending 
and receiving diplomatic agents to and from other 
states, enjoying all the rights of a regular and well- 
established government, and embracing within the 
boundaries asserted by her all the territory which 
she now claims. 

I proceed now to inquire into the validity of her 
title to this territory as one of the states of the 
Union. Whatever conclusion might be reached upon 
an investigation of her claim to the territory against 
the adverse claim of Mexico previous to her annex- 
ation to the United States, it seems to me that her 
title to this territory at this time is supported by con- 
siderations too powerful to be resisted. If there be 
any adverse title, it is in the United States, and I am 
confident that a statement of the argument in support 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 285 

of the claim of Texas as against that set up for the 
United States, must bring all minds to which it is 
presented to an admission, however reluctantly made, 
of its validity and its strength. 

The claim of Texas to all the territory now em- 
braced within the lunits fixed by her Constitution 
was well known to the government of the United 
States previous to the annexation of that state. 

Mr. Vinton (Mr. Hilliard yielding the floor to him 
for explanation) stated that it had been several times 
asserted upon this floor that the boundaries of Texas 
were fixed in her Constitution, but that, upon exam- 
ination, he had not been able to find them laid down 
in any Constitution formed by that state. 

Mr. Hilliard resumed: It is not at all important, 
Mr. Speaker, so far as the argument is concerned, 
whether the l^oundaries of Texas ■were defined by her 
Constitution or not. They were certainly defined 
clearly by an act of her Legislature ; and this solemn 
declaration of the title of Texas to the w^hole extent 
of the territory bordering on the Rio Grande del 
Norte, from its mouth to its source, continuing upon 
a line drawn thence to the forty-second parallel of 
latitude, was made knoAvn to the government of the 
United States when the measure of annexation w^as 
proposed to that state. That part of the territory 
lying on the Upper Rio Grande was certainly held 
at that time by Mexico, but Texas w^as asserting her 
title to it, and taking steps to bring it under her ju- 
risdiction. 

It was our policy to avoid a war with Mexico, and 
as this disputed boundary-line might lead to a col- 



286 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

lision between Texas and that republic, and of course 
involve the United States in it, it -was provided in 
the resolutions by which Texas was annexed to the 
Union, that the adjustment of all questions of bound- 
ary should be intrusted to the government of the 
United States. The precise language is this : " Said 
state to be formed, subject to the adjustment by this 
government of all questions of boundary that may 
arise with other governments." 

The United States government then was made ac- 
quainted with the claim of Texas, and undertook to 
adjust it— not to relinquish it, not to negotiate that 
it might vest in itself, but to adjust it ; which devolved 
upon our government the duty of enforcing the claim 
of Texas, and of urging it upon Mexico in good faith. 
At that time, no other construction than this was 
put upon the resolutions of annexation ; they Avere 
clearly understood by the two contracting parties — 
the government of the United States and that of 
Texas — by Mexico, and by all the world. In pursu- 
ance of the resolutions, the President of the United 
States promptly opened communications with the 
government of Mexico, that republic having Avith- 
drawn its minister from Washington, and proposed 
to negotiate for the recognition of the Rio Grande 
del Norte as the western boundary of Texas. Mex- 
ico actually consented to receive a commissioner to 
negotiate for that object. Mr. Polk thought it prop- 
er to send an envoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary to the government of Mexico, with 
general powers. Mr. Slidell was selected to perform 
the delicate and unportant duties which his mission 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 287 

involved. He proceeded to Vera Cruz, and was 
urged by the friends of the government then existing 
in Mexico to wait until its power was somewhat bet- 
ter consolidated before approaching the capital; he 
declined the counsel, inconsiderately hastened to the 
city of Mexico, and presented his credentials, which 
were rejected, on the ground that the relations be- 
tween the United States and Mexico were not such 
as to render it proper that the ordinary diplomatic 
intercourse should be resmned between them, and that 
it was understood a special commissioner was to be 
accredited to the Mexican government, empowered to 
negotiate for the adjustment of questions growing out 
of the annexation of Texas. 

What was the view taken at that time by our gov- 
ernment of the claim of Texas to the Rio Grande as 
her boundary? The only part of the territory which 
the government of the United States thought Mexico 
could dispute with Texas was that bordering on the 
upper part of that stream, and embraced -within the 
limits of the province of New Mexico ; and that it 
undertook to secure for Texas. This mil be made 
perfectly plain by looking into the instructions which 
Mr. Buchanan, then Secretary of State, gave to Mr. 
Slidell when about to enter upon his mission. It 
must be borne in mind that some of our citizens had 
claims on Mexico, which that republic had not found 
it convenient to discharge. The internal disorders 
from which it had suffered had impoverished it. 
These claims were for years pressed upon Mexico, 
and when Mr. Slidell was about to enter upon the 
task of negotiating with Mexico for the adjustment 



288 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

of the dispute with Texas in regard to her boundary, 
he was instructed by Mr. Buchanan to bring them, 
up for settlement. It Avas well known that Mexico 
was not able at that time to pay them, but it was 
for this precise reason that Mr. Slidell was to urge 
them. Mr. Buchanan says : 

"The fact is too well known to the world that the 
Mexican jrovernment are not now in a condition to 
satisfy these claims by the payment of money. Un- 
less the debt should be assumed by the government 
of the United Stutes, the claimants can not receive 
what is justly their due. Fortunately, the joint res- 
olution of Congress, approved 1st March, 1845, 'for 
annexing Texas to the United States,' presents the 
means of satisfying these claims, in perfect consist- 
ency with the interests as well as the honor of both 
republics. It has reserved to this government the 
adjustment ' of all questions of boundary that may 
arise with other governments.*' This question of 
boundary may therefore be adjusted in such a man- 
ner between the two republics as to cast the burden 
of debt due to American claimants on their own gov- 
ernment, while it will do no injury to Mexico." 

Mr. Buchanan proceeded to inform Mr. Slidell that 
Texas declared the Bio del Norte, from its mouth to 
its source, to be a boundary of that republic, and 
stated that the right of Texas to that boundary as far 
up the stream as El Paso was not likely to be ques- 
tioned seriously. His argument in suj)port of that 
position is an able one. He admitted that the case 
in regard to New Mexico Avas different, and that 
Texas had never subjected that part of the territory 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 289 

to her jurisdiction. What, then, was the view taken 
by the government of the United States of the claim 
of Texas to the territory lying on the E-io Grande ? 
Clearly that, so far as the territory up to El Paso 
was concerned, it was too strong to be questioned, 
and that so much of it as was north of that point 
was subject to adjustment with Mexico. The title 
of Texas to that part of the territory was to be urged, 
and Mr. Slidell was instructed to offer to assume the 
pa}anent of all the just claims of our citizens against 
Mexico, "should she agree that the line shall be 
established along the boundary defined by the act of 
Congress of Texas, approved December 19, 1836, to 
wit: beginning at the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
thence up the principal stream of said river to its 
source, thence due north to the forty-second degree 
of north latitude. " 

A debt already pronounced to be worthless was to 
be discharged, in consideration of a relinquishment 
by the party from Avhom it was due of a disputed 
claim to the territory within the declared limits of 
one of the United States. Mr. Slidell was instructed 
to offer the payment of five millions of dollars to 
Mexico, should she agree to transfer to the United 
States that part of New Mexico west of the Rio 
Grande ; and one of the considerations which he was 
to present to Mexico, to induce her to consent to the 
sale of this province, was the fact that so much of it 
as was east of the river dividing it was already em- 
braced within the limits declared by Texas. He was 
instructed to offer a still larger sum for Upper Cali- 
fornia. 

T 



290 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

Such, sir, was the view taken by the government 
of the United States of the title of Texas to the ter- 
ritory claimed by her at the date of her annexation, 
when that title was to be asserted and maintained 
against the adverse claim of Mexico. The title of 
Texas was asserted, and the government of the Unit- 
ed States offered to that of Mexico a worthless debt 
due to our citizens for a worthless claim set up against 
one of the states. 

Upon Mr. Slidell's rejection by the government of 
Mexico, what was then the course of our government? 
Was the title of Texas abandoned? Was it ever re- 
garded as a doubtful title ? So far from it, General 
Taylor proceeded, under orders from the government, 
to take possession of the territory between the Nue- 
ces and that stream; and selecting a position on the 
very bank of the Rio Grande — the extreme western 
line claimed by Texas — he threw up his works op- 
posite Matamoras. That position was chosen with 
a view to the defense of the whole territory claimed 
by the state which Ave had taken under our protec- 
tion, and it was occupied as the soil of the United 
States, because it was a part of Texas. 

Mr. Ashmun (interrupting Mr. H.) held that these 
were the acts of but a single branch of the govern- 
nient — of the executive. Congress, he said, had sol- 
emnly refused to recognize the constitutionality of 
those acts. 

Mr. Howard reminded the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts that, in his orders to General Taylor, Secre- 
tary Marcy had directed him to take post on the Bio 
Grande, which was to be the western boundary of 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 291 

Texas in case the annexation then pending took 
place. 

Mr. Hilliard resumed. No, Mr. Speaker, the force 
of this clear recognition of the Rio Grande as the 
western boundary of Texas by the government of the 
United States can not be impaired in that way. 
Congress immediately voted supplies to enable Gen- 
eral Taylor to hold his position, and that vote was a 
solemn recognition of the boundary asserted by Tex- 
as ; otherwise, instead of voting supplies, the troops 
should have been instantly withdi'awn to some point 
east of the Nueces. I do not vindicate the course of 
the President; his order should not have been given 
without the authority of Congress ; but I insist that 
the subsequent action of Congress was an explicit 
recognition of the validity of the title of Texas to the 
full extent of the boundaries asserted by her. In 
fact, the action of every department of the govern- 
ment which has had any reference to the claim of 
Texas upon the territory embraced within the bound- 
aries defined by the act of her Legislature, has recog- 
nized and affii'med that claim to its fullest extent. 

The occupation of the country bordering on the 
Rio Grande was followed by a war with Mexico. 
Our troops held that country, overran and took jdos- 
session of Ncav Mexico and Upper California, and 
brought them under the flao- of the United States as 
conquered provinces. By a series of brilliant victo- 
ries, a complete ascendency was obtained over Mex- 
ico, and a treaty of peace and of limits was at length 
concluded with that republic, leaving the United 
States in possession of every acre of the territory 



292 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

claimed by Texas, and a large district of country be- 
sides, stretching to the Pacific Ocean. The adverse 
claim of Mexico to the territory east of the Rio 
Grande was extinguished, and, eo instante, the title 
of Texas covered it. The government of the United 
States is, in the language of the law, estopped from 
asserting any claim to that territory; its mouth is 
closed; it is forever concluded by its OAvn admis- 
sions — by its own assertions — by its own acts. The 
only adverse title to that of Texas being abandoned, 
the title of that state to its whole territory is good 
against the world. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 
does not make any transfer of territory to the United 
States, but the boundaries between the two republics 
are defined ; and while the limits of New Mexico are 
referred to as forming part of the ncAV boundary, the 
reference is to the southern and vjestern limits, no 
mention being made of the eastern boundary of that 
province. The map which accompanied the treaty 
shows, I believe, the territory of Texas marked out 
as asserted by her Legislature, and as recognized by 
the government of the United States. 

How can the boundaries of that state be now ques- 
tioned by the United States ? Let us suppose that 
Mexico had accepted the offer which Mr. Slidell was 
empowered to make, and had withdrawn her claim 
to that part of New Mexico east of the Rio Grande, 
would not Texas have been invited by our govern- 
ment at once to extend her jurisdiction over that ter- 
ritory? Or if, upon the march of General Taylor to 
the Rio Grande, Mexico had declined war, and had 
abandoned all the territory claimed by her east of 



BOUNDARY OP TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 293 

that stream, would it have occurred to the govern- 
ment of the United States to question the right of 
Texas to take instant possession of the whole extent 
of it ? No, sir ; and if we had never acquired that 
part of the province of New Mexico which lies west 
of the Rio Grande, no one would have disputed the 
title of Texas to the fragment east of the river. Can 
the claim of Texas be affected by the acquisition of 
the western part of the j)rovince? 

After the ratification of the treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, the President of the United States, in a 
message to the House of Representatives, admitted 
the right of Texas to take possession of the country 
which she claimed, in its fullest extent. He refers 
to the joint resolution of Congress annexing Texas 
to the United States, and the adjustment of questions 
of boundary for which it provides, and adds : 

"Until the exchange of the ratifications of the late 
treaty. New Mexico never became an undisputed por- 
tion of the United States, and it would therefore 
have been premature to deliver over to Texas that 
portion of it on the east side of the Rio Grande to 
which she asserted a claim. 

"Under the circumstances existing during the 
pendency of the war, and while the whole of New 
Mexico, as claimed by our enemy, was in our military 
occupation, I was not unmindful of the rights of 
Texas to that portion of it which she claimed to be 
within her limits." 

While the war with Mexico was in progress, the 
Governor of Texas demanded of the government of 



294 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

the United States an explanation of the reasons for 
organizing a government at Santa Fe ; and the Sec- 
retary of War, under instructions from the President, 
replied that the government was a temporary one, 
and would cease upon the conclusion of a treaty of 
peace with Mexico. ' ' Nothing, " he adds, ' ' therefore, 
can be more certain than that this temporary govern- 
ment, resulting from necessity, can never injuriously 
affect the right which the President believes to be 
justly asserted by Texas to the whole territory on 
this side of the Pio Grande whenever the Mexican 
claim to it shall have been extinguished by treaty." 

During the progress of the war, while Texas, in 
common with the other states, was contributing her 
part toward achieving the victories which resulted in 
the acquisition of the immense territory ceded to us 
by Mexico, she was assured that her title to the 
whole extent of the Pio Grande was recognized, and 
that no occupation of it by the military forces of the 
United States could injuriously affect it. 

Now, sir, I insist that the title of Texas to the 
whole of the country claimed by her is perfect, and 
that the government of the United States ought 
promptly to declare it to be so, and to invite that 
state either to extend its jurisdiction over it, or to 
accept some satisfactory boundary, with ample com- 
pensation for the relinquishment of her right to the 
territory which she consents to give up. The claim 
of Texas is resisted upon two grounds. Some insist 
that her title to tlie territory bordering on the Pio 
Grande vests in the United States, while others set 
up a claim for New Mexico, and object to any divi- 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 295 

sion of that province upon the ground that the gov- 
ernment is bound by the terms of the treaty to admit 
it as a state into the Union. 

I trust that I have already satisfactorily shown 
that the government of the United States could not 
acquire the title to the territory in dispute ; it set up 
no claim of its own ; it undertook to assert that of 
Texas ; it extinguished the adverse claim of Mexico, 
the only adverse claim in existence, and by that 
means perfected the title of Texas. To allow the 
government now to assert its own title would be a 
violation of every principle of equity, which no judi- 
cial tribunal could sanction, and would be a flagrant 
breach of good faith, Avhich the universal sentiment 
of mankind would condemn. 

As to New Mexico, it is not to be regarded as a 
political community, or an entity^ as Carlyle would 
express it, but as so much territory belonging to the 
United States, except that part of it which is included 
within the limits of Texas. We may construct a 
government for it, and embrace the whole territory 
west of the Rio Grande in it, or we may divide it, as 
we think best. 

The treaty does not guarantee to the inhabitants a 
sej)arate existence as a political community. Its lan- 
guage is, "The Mexicans w^ho, in the territories 
aforesaid, shall not preserve the character of citizens 
of the Mexican republic, conformably with what is 
stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorpo- 
rated into the Union of the United States, and be ad- 
mitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the 
Congress of the United States) to the enjoyment of 



296 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

all the rights of citizens of the United States, accord- 
ing to the principles of the Constitution, and, in the 
mean time, shall be maintained and protected in the 
free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and se- 
cured in the free exercise of their religion without re- 
striction. " 

The territories referred to in this article, the 
ninth, are those which jDreviously belonged to Mex- 
ico, and the inhabitants are to enjoy certain rights 
instantly — such as the right of liberty, of property, 
and of religion ; and subsequently, when Congress 
shall judge it to be proper, they are to have conferred 
on them the privileges of American citizens by being 
incorporated into the Union. How incorporated 
into the Union ? As separate states "? The treaty is 
silent as to states — it speaks of inhabitants, of indi- 
viduals. To contend that the provinces, or, in other 
words, the territories previously belonging to Mex- 
ico, are to be admitted as states, and that reference is 
to be had to their former boundaries, is a gross mis- 
construction of the treaty ; it would, if accepted and 
acted on, put it out of our power to limit the bound- 
aries of Upper California to smaller dimensions than 
it heretofore possessed. The treaty simply guaran- 
tees to the inhabitants of the territories acquired 
from Mexico the j)rivilege of American citizenshijD. 
This privilege might have been denied to them by 
the government of the United States if there had not 
been an explicit stipulation to that effect in the treaty, 
and they might have been kept perpetually under the 
same absolute form of rule to which they are now 
subjected by the neglect of Congress to provide a bet- 
ter system for them. 



BOUND AET OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 297 

Story, in his work on the Constitution, says : 
"In cases of confirmation or cession by treaty, the 
acquisition becomes firm and stable, and the ceded 
territory becomes a part of the nation to which it is 
annexed, either on terms stipulated in the treaty, or 
on such as its new master shall imj)ose. The rela- 
tions of the inhabitants with each other do not change, 
but their relations with their former sovereign are 
dissolved, and new relations are created between 
them and their new sovereign. If the treaty stipu- 
lates that they shall enjoy the privileges, rights, and 
immunities of citizens of the States, the treaty, as a 
part of the law of the land, becomes obligatory in 
these respects. Whether the same efiects would re- 
sult from the mere fact of their becomins; inhabitants 
and citizens by the cession, without any express stip- 
ulation, may deserve inquiry, if the question should 
ever occur." 

It was to secure the rights of citizens of the United 
States to the inhabitants of the territories acquired 
from Mexico, and who should become permanent res- 
idents within them, that the ninth article of the treaty 
was inserted ; for, without that article, the inhabit- 
ants, cut ofP from their own country, might never, 
after their transfer to another sovereignty, enjoy the 
rights and immunities of citizenship. This is all that 
the government of the United States, in the treaty, 
undertakes to do ; it must protect the inhabitants in 
the enjoyment of the privileges enumerated until they 
rise to the higher dignity of citizens, by being incor- 
porated into some state of the Union. That would, 
ipso facto^ make them citizens of the United States, 



298 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

and, so far from being a violation of the treaty, it 
would be an explicit compliance with its terms. So 
far, then, as that objection to extending the jurisdic- 
tion of Texas over the territory which at one time 
constituted a part of New Mexico is concerned, it is 
disposed of The obligation upon Congress to recog- 
nize and respect the title of that state to the whole 
extent of the territory claimed by her, seems to me to 
be clear and imperative. Yet I am aware that many 
persons think of that title very differently; they 
question it, and insist that the state should be turned 
over to the Supreme Court for a decision upon her 
claim to the E,io Grande as her Avestern boundary. 

Some, indeed, go so far as to deny that Texas has 
even the color of title to any part of the territory be- 
yond the Nueces ; and, in reply to her earnest demand 
that her jurisdiction shall be acknowledged over her 
own soil, they urge that arms shall be employed to 
resist her attempt to enforce it. 

Mr. Speaker, Texas ought to be dealt with gener- 
ously. So far from meriting the reproaches with 
which she is sometimes loaded, she ought to receive 
a cordial welcome into the family of American states. 
By her own gallantry she originated and carried 
through successfully a revolution against the govern- 
ment of Mexico, when that republic overthrew the 
Constitution which was framed for the protection of 
the liberties of her people. Alone, with a sparse pop- 
ulation, with slender means, with no regular troops, 
that state formed the heroic purpose of achieving its 
independence, and it accomplished it. The field of 
San Jacinto takes rank with other plains upon which 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 299 

tyranny has been cloven down, and the flag of free- 
dom has been unfurled. That flag, spread to the 
breeze by the brave men who struck for liberty un- 
der it, with a single star glittering upon its folds, 
was never lowered ; it was kept flying until the eyes 
. of the civilized world caught sight of it, and hailed it 
as the ensign of an independent state, and the gi^eat 
powers of the globe sent their embassadors to welcome 
her into the family of nations. She appealed to us 
to receive her, and we rejected her. She was still 
threatened with the power of the government from 
which she had revolted. She turned naturally to us 
for succor, for defense ; we did not extend it. We 
acknoAvledged her independence — so did the sover- 
eigns of Europe. 

In the course of years, when the state had grown 
strong, and when powerful nations sought to bind 
her to them by treaties of friendship and commerce 
— when her existence was no longer a thing to be 
questioned, but her young energies began to develop 
themselves, and to influence the affairs of the Chris- 
tian world, then we proff*ered our alliance, and in- 
vited her to merge her nationality in the American' 
Union. Sir, it is within my personal knowledge 
that, as early as 1844, the independence of Texas 
might have been acknowledged by Mexico upon the 
condition that she would bind herself to continue an 
independent state, unconnected with our confederacy. 
I was at that time in Europe, and in an interview 
with an ofiicial person of high rank, this fact was dis- 
closed to me. Mexico foresaw her danger from our 
neighboring power, and it was her object to interpose 



6Vi) BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

a feebler republic between herself and the United 
States as a barrier against an incursion w^hich she 
dreaded. Some of the great states of Europe were 
interested in effecting this arrangement from other 
considerations. I informed our government of the 
state of affairs, and the next year it became know^n 
to the world that Mexico had in the most solemn 
form consented, through the intervention of the Brit- 
ish and French governments, to acknowledge the in- 
dependence of Texas, provided she would stipulate 
not to annex herself or to become subject to any coun- 
try whatever. 

I am asked if Mexico consented to acknowledge 
the Hio Grande as the boundary of Texas. My re- 
ply is, that I heard no other condition named than 
that of remaining a distinct state. That was the 
single condition. 

But Texas, true to her American sympathies, true 
to her lineage, true to her love of constitutional lil> 
erty, declined the joroposal, and entered into our 
Union, giving another star to our flag, and adding to 
our possessions a magnificent domain. 
' And now, sir, when this state asks for the bound- 
aries which she has at all times asserted, we are call- 
ed on to turn her over to the Supreme Court to have 
them passed upon. We have heretofore acknowl- 
edged her boundaries — acknowledged, did I say ? we 
have asserted them, urged them, vindicated them at 
the mouth of the cannon, shed the blood of our peo- 
ple in defense of them ; and now, when we have suc- 
ceeded in having them granted by her ancient foe, we 
bid this young state, coming to us upon our own earn- 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS A^'D NEW MEXICO. 301 

est invitation, to go and make /lood her claim, if she 
can, before our own judicial tribunaL I know that it 
is an august tribunal: I would not lessen its imposing 
dignity ; I would rather add to it everj^ sanction that 
could give potency to its high functions ; but I trust 
that an American Congress will never send Texas 
away from its chambers to urge her claim to her 
boundaries before any tribunal under Heaven. It is 
a spectax:-le which I never desire to witness ; it would 
leave an ineffaceable stain upon our escutcheon, which 
to-day is a resplendent one. 

I am not surprised at the impatience which Texas 
exhibits under the delav of our orovemment to ac- 
knowledge her rightful jurisdiction over her soil, but 
I trust she will not attempt to assert her claim by 
arms. Under our system, arms must not decide such 
disputes. There is no place for them. Law^, consti- 
tutional law, lifts up its voice between contending 
parties, and by its majesty rebukes the appeal to 
arms. They are not in harmony with the system 
which binds these states. They miLst not be em- 
ployed on either side in this controversy. They are 
to be taken up only when a people, hopeless of other 
relief against a government which oppresses them, 
appeal to the ultima ro.tio of kings, of states, and of 
men. If Texas should listen to the counsel of those 
vrho urge her to employ force in vindication of her 
rights, she will listen to unwise and rash counselors. 
It is not her interest to introduce brute force for the 
arbitrament of disputes under this government. Let 
her rather invoke the aegis of law. Let her appeal 
to us. I have an unshaken confidence in the honor. 



302 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

the magnanimity, and the patriotism of Congress. 
The bill sent to us from the Senate, and upon which 
a question is about to be taken, is a pledge of the 
purpose of that body, at least, to treat her claims 
with the consideration which they deserve. Opin- 
ions are divided as to the extent of the territory 
which rightfully belongs to Texas, and the terms pro- 
posed to that state in the bill before us form a proj^er 
basis for the adjustment of that important dispute. 

So far from being ready to vote at this time to re- 
ject the bill, I intend to give it my support, if I can 
be satisfied that the territory cut off from Texas will 
not be subjected to some act of legislation by Con- 
gress hostile to the interests of the Southern people ; 
and I have already assurances that no such act will 
find favor in either House. 

The bill will receive my support upon two consid- 
erations. In the first place, it will promote the in- 
terests of Texas ; and, in the second place, it will give 
peace to the whole country. 

As to the interests of Texas, they are comprehend- 
ed by her able and patriotic senators. The bill re- 
ceived their support when it was before the Senate. 
I am willing to accept their action as the exponent 
of the sentiments of the people of that state in regard 
to their rights. 

The parallel of 36° 30' north latitude is fixed upon 
as the northern boundary of that state, and that line 
is adhered to until it touches the 103d degree of lon- 
gitude ; the boundary then runs south upon that line 
until it intersects the 3 2d parallel of north latitude, 
which it pursues west to the Rio Grande del Norte. 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 303 

This boundary, it will be perceived, follows the line 
of 3G° 30' until it ai^proaches the country settled by 
a Mexican population, when it diverges, as I have 
described it, so as to exclude them. 

This arrangement is a wise one ; it leaves out of 
the limits of Texas a people diifering in origin, relig- 
ion, opinions, and tastes from the great body of the 
people of that state. People diifering so widely, 
where the caste is so marked, never could constitute 
a homogeneous population, and Texas is far better off 
without them than she could be with them. The ter- 
ritory embraced within the limits defined in the bill 
for that state is very large, and secures to her every 
substantial advantage which she could desire. 

The ten millions of dollars will enable her to meet 
the claims against her, and relieve this young state 
from the pressure of a debt incurred in achieving her 
independence. 

But, sir, if it be advantageous to Texas to accept 
the terms proposed in the bill, it is still more impor- 
tant to the country at large that they should be 
adopted. The people of the United States demand 
that this controversy shall be settled, and they will 
hail with the liighest satisfaction a measure Avhich re- 
stores to the country the peace which it so earnestly 
desires. What do they regard ten millions of dollars 
in comparison with the relief which the country will 
experience from the adjustment of a controversy 
which has too long already swept it like a tempest? 
Every interest in the country has suffered from its 
rage, and the world beholds with amazement the 
American Congress overlooking all other subjects, 



304 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

foreign and domestic, and engrossed in a discussion 
which threatens to destroy the very existence of the 
government. Sir, it is time to bring this controversy 
to a conclusion. I desire to see peace. It is a bless- 
ing above all price. 

It is objected to the bill before us, by some gentle- 
men from the Northern States, that the boundaries 
defined in it cut off from New Mexico a part of its 
territory. This objection has not the least founda- 
tion. I have already shown that New Mexico is not 
a political community, with limits fixed by the treaty. 
Even if it were to be maintained as such, with all 
the territory which belonged to it while a province 
of Mexico, I can satisfy every one that the bounda- 
ries marked out for Texas in the bill upon your table 
do not in any way interfere "with the boundaries of 
New Mexico. 

The truth is, the limits of New Mexico are not 
even approached by the line fixed on as the western 
boundary of Texas, before its intersection with the 
thirty-second parallel of north latitude, and it touches 
those limits only at El Paso. I now present to the 
House two very interesting maps, to which I invite 
attention. They were found in tlie Palace of Mexico, 
among the official papers of the war department of 
that republic, by an American officer of great intelli- 
gence and high character, Avhen our army occupied 
its capital, and they were put into my hands by him. 
One is a French map; the other seems to have been 
prepared according to laAv, for the use of the Mexican 
War Office, and exhibits an exact delineation of the 
extent of each department of Mexico. The first is 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 305 

by Brue, dated Paris, 1825; the other was prepared 
subsequent to a decree of the Mexican government of 
1836, dividing the territory of the republic into de- 
partments, which are named, and which are marked 
on it in manuscript. 

Both maps show^ that the province of New Mexico 
was of Umited extent, embracing a district of coun- 
try bordering on both sides of the Bio Grande, and 
not even apj^roaching the 103d degree of longitude. 
It will be observed that I do not introduce these 
maps to afford any evidence of the extent of Tex- 
as ; I am now directing my argument to another 
point, and that is, that the lines proposed in the 
Senate's bill for the boundaries of Texas do not in 
the slightest degree interfere with those of New 
Mexico. Nothing can be jDlainer than that; it is 
shown not only by the maps which I have produced, 
but by all those which can be produced, of any au- 
thenticity, and by all the descriptions which have 
been given to the world of the geogi-aphy of that 
district of country. 

Gentlemen, then, may dismiss all anxiety as to the 
boundaries of New Mexico, about which so much so- 
licitude is expressed ; they are not disturbed by the 
limits assigned to Texas in the bill which has been 
sent to us from the Senate. All objections to the 
boundaries of that state proposed in the bill give way 
upon investigation. The country claimed for New- 
Mexico is open Indian territory, and the limits of 
that province will be largely extended if they are 
made to embrace all that is not included within the 
boundaries of Texas. 

U 



306 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

The considerations in favor of the bill are over- 
whelming. It appeals to the highest motives which 
can act upon the House — to its generosity, its justice, 
its patriotism. No selfish considerations ; no sec-; 
tional animosity; no narrow view of policy; no a-p- 
prehension of personal risk should, for a single mo- 
ment, be allowed to hinder its passage. It will, I am 
confident, find a powerful support from the great 
body of the American people. They are always 
loyal to the country, and they will hail with the en- 
thusiasm of true patriotism the success of a measure 
which restores peace to thirty kindred states. 

But, sir, this is not the only duty which we have 
to perform. We have already too long neglected to 
establish governments for the inhabitants of the ter- 
ritories ceded to us by Mexico. The government in 
New Mexico, if it may be called a government, ought 
not to have been suffered to endure for a single month 
after the meeting of Congress. It is a reproach to 
us ; it is a monstrous anomaly in our political sys- 
tem. It resembles the Roman proconsular govern- 
ments, by which that imperial power held its con- 
quered provinces in subjection. Absolute jDower is 
confided to the hands of a military governor. What 
security do the inhabitants enjoy from oj^pression as 
hard and as cruel as that which was inflicted upon 
the people of Sicily by Verres, when he was prastor 
of that province ? Before an aj)peal could be taken 
to our government, the grossest wrongs might be en- 
dured by the inhabitants of that distant district of 
country, who have been transferred to our jurisdic- 
tion by a solemn treaty, and by our own citizens who 



BOUXDARY OF TEXAS AXD NEW IMEXICO. 307 

are seeking homes there. The Mexicans who con- 
tinue to reside there in the hope of becoming Amer- 
ican citizens have the strongest claim to our protec- 
tion. Torn from their own country by the fortune 
of war; subjected for a long time to a strict military 
government ; transfeiTed at last to the nation with 
which they had been at war, they are entitled to the 
rights which the treaty was supposed to secure to 
them. Tliey are entitled to something beyond the 
mere privilege to remain wpon the soil: they are to 
be maintained and 2:)rotected in the free enjojTiient of 
their liberty and property, and in the free exercise of 
their religion without restriction; and this, too, be- 
fore they are admitted to the enjo^Tnent of the rights 
of citizens of the United States. 

Suppose these rights are violated, where are they 
to look for redress ? Troops stationed at Santa Fe 
to repel attacks from Indians do not, in my judgment, 
acquit us of our solemn obligation. It is impera- 
tive upon us ; let us do our duty. It has been too 
long neglected. The delay, and the causes of the de- 
lay, alike reproach us. Let us establish territorial 
governments for the people of jSTew Mexico and 
Utah. These governments should not only be free 
from any restriction upon the rights of the citizens of 
the United States, but they should secm'e to the in- 
habitants the ample protection of American law. 
An American Congress can not withhold that. It 
is due to the Mexicans wdio are brought under our 
jurisdiction, and to oiu' citizens residing there, that 
we should confer upon them the blessings of good 
government. If the system of American law be bet- 



308 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

ter than that of Mexican law, they are entitled to its 
benefits. Is there nothing in the right of trial by 
jury? Is the writ oi habeas corpus of no value? Is 
not the common law to be prized, with its innumer- 
able privileges? These — all these the inhabitants of 
our Territories should enjoy; and especially should 
they be secured to our citizens, hardy and enterpris- 
ing men, who turn their backs uj)on their native coun- 
try and take uj) their abode in the wilderness, which 
they Avill j)resently convert into fields teeming with 
the varied fruits of industry. Every obstruction 
ought to be removed out of the way of our people 
who desire to emisrrate to our Territories. The 

o 

American citizen is entitled to the protection of his 
'government in the enjoyment of his life, his liberty, 
and his property, wherever he fixes his residence, if 
the soil be under the jurisdiction of the flag of the 
United States. I do not give my assent to the doc- 
trine of non-intervention. The poAver to govern the 
Territories belongs to the government of the United 
States, and it must be employed for the benefit of the 
peoj)le of all the states. The power may be right- 
fully employed to remove obstructions out of the way 
of the enjoyment of their rights of every description 
in the Territories, but it can not l^e emploj^ed to put 
restrictions upon the enjoyment of those rights. 

The one act would be an exercise of its legitimate 
functions, the other would be an abuse of them. 
The o;overnments oro!:anized for the territories ac- 
quired from Mexico should be established upon these 
principles. The blessings of good government would 
be secured to the inhabitants of those remote posses- 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 309 

sions, and harmony would be restored to the whole 
country. The time is come to look out upon the 
whole sweep of the horizon which encircles our broad 
land, with a firm purpose to do our duty to the peo- 
ple of every part of it. We must rise to a noble 
view of our duties as American representatives, and 
bring our minds to a full survey of the interests of 
the great country which Providence has intrusted to 
our legislation. The troubles which surround us have 
resulted from an attempt to turn the government of 
the United States from the true sphere of its action. 
Established by the people of the States for their com- 
mon benefit, with great but limited powers, some 
have sought to control it for selfish purposes — to 
brins it to bear in favor of a section or against a sec- 
tion. Its l3alance has been disturbed. It is distrust- 
ed by the people of the States against which its pow- 
er is directed, and their affections, which clung to it 
with ardor, begin to suffer an alienation, which is as 
natural as it is likely to be fatal, unless it be arrest- 
ed. The government must regain their confidence by 
poising itself upon the basis of the Constitution, and 
by giving to the country an administration national 
in its aim and spirit. Our political system is a com- 
plex one. It blends the elements of popular power 
with the vigor of a stable government. In the states 
of Greece the principle was, for the first time, recog- 
nized, that the government was established for the 
good of the connnunity. In the language of a cele- 
brated English writer on Greece, "From the earliest 
times it was not the 'niona7^cli^ but the state, that 
called forth the virtue of devotion and inspired the 
enthusiasm of loyalty." 



310 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

Asia liad produced only despotisms, not relieved 
by a single provision for the protection of human lib- 
erty. The power of the monarch was supported at 
the expense of popular rights. The two systems met 
in conflict at Salamis and at Plat£ea. The triumph of 
Greece was complete, and the struggle of opinion on 
the soil of Europe in behalf of the rights of mankind 
has been maintained ever since. Reverses have never 
crushed it. The weight of the most powerful throne 
has never completely overwhelmed it. It has assert- 
ed its ever-springing vigor, and is to-day bringing ev- 
ery government beneath the heavens under its sway. 
Our system is an improvement upon those which took 
their rise in Greece. It is no longer the state whose 
glory is to be enhanced by the sacrifice of individual 
rights, but it is the happiness of the people who com- 
pose the state which is to be secured. The splendor 
or power of the government can not be advanced at 
the expense of the rights of the citizen. The repre- 
sentative principle — a principle which belongs to 
modern systems — secures the rights of the individual 
and the strength of the state. Can this system be 
maintained ? It can ; it will be ; it must be. With 
all its faults — guided, as it sometimes is, by unwise 
counsels — it is the noblest political structure which 
the world ever saw, and secures more practical liberty 
to mankind than every other existing government. 
Let it be administered in the spirit in which it was 
conceived, and it will stand through the expanding 
cycles of the future. I know, sir, that some in our 
own country pronounce it a failure, and it may be 
that some desire to overthrow it. Its complex char- 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 311 

acter, blending the powers of a general government 
with, those of the several states, exposes it to dangers 
from its own action. The dangers result from an oc- 
casional tendency to centralization — from an assump- 
tion of powers by the general government not grant- 
ed in the Constitution. 

This will always give rise to dissatisfaction in the 
States, whose interest it is to resist any encroachments 
upon their rights. 

Chief-justice Marshall once remarked of the court 
over which he presided, "This court never leans." 
Those who are intrusted with the administration of 
the government should interpret its grant of powers 
in the same spirit, neither enlarging nor limiting 
them ; and if this course be adhered to, the Union of 
these states will outlive the predictions of its timid 
friends and the impotent struggles of its enemies. 

The extent of our domain can not impair its 
strength. The improvements of modern civilization 
will enable us to plant our self-sustaining institutions 
as firmly upon the shores of the Pacific as they are 
seated upon those of the Atlantic. 

If there be those in any part of our wide-spread 
limits, north or south, who are striving to divide this 
growing empu'e — who seek to magnify rather than to 
remove the causes of disagreement — who utter un- 
ceasing complaints against the government for the 
abuse of its powers, and yet reject all measures of re- 
dress, I have no s}Tnpathy with them. The respon- 
sibility of perpetuating the existence of the govern- 
ment rests mainly on the North. It holds the des- 
tiny of the country in its hands. I appeal to gentle- 



312 BOUNDARY OP TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

men from that section of the Union to come up at 
this critical hour, when the eyes of the nation are 
turned upon us with mingled anxiety and hope, and 
adjust the unhappy controversy which has so long 
disturbed our councils. 

The crusade which has been carried on against the 
institutions of the South must be abandoned. If per- 
sisted in, it will precipitate us into struggles which 
may end in the destruction of the republic. 

The nobler feelings which are sometimes appealed 
to in the fierce warfare directed against us will only 
betray a misguided people into acts of hostility, which 
will involve us all in common ruin. Those who fol- 
low you will then hold you responsible for calamities 
which can no longer be averted. Then may they who 
looked to you for counsel — to you, who undertook the 
task of leading them in the perilous enterprise upon 
which they were entering — to you, placed where you 
could see all the wrong and all the danger — reproach 
you in the language of the great dramatist : 

" Hadst thou but shook thy head, or made a pause, 
When I spake darkly what I purposed, 
Or turned an eye of doubt upon my face." 

Mr. Speaker, I have never permitted myself to look 
to a destruction of the government as a remedy for 
existing evils. I have not sought to explore the dark 
and perilous future which lies beyond the hour of sep- 
aration between these states, bound together by so 
many ties. I have a sincere desire to preserve the 
Union. Its disruption would involve the North and 
the South in common ruin. Kival states, with stand- 
ing armies, and fortresses bristling with guns erected 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 313 

Upon streams now flowing in peace between kindred 
states ; conflicting interests ; heavy commercial regu- 
lations fettering trade now untrammeled — all this 
would replace the wide scene of prosperity and hap- 
piness which now salutes the eye as it surveys the 
whole extent of our country. 

Nor Avould this be all : rival states would soon be- 
come belligerent states, and armies would be employ- 
ed to decide the supremacy between them. The flag 
that floats to-day over every part of our Avide domain, 
from the banks of the St. Lawrence, in full view of 
the British possessions, to the coast of the Pacific, 
where it meets the eye of the navigator returning 
from Asia, and upon our ships, which bear it upon 
all the waters of the earth, is knoAvn and honored as 
the ensign of a great and pow^erful republic ; it is as- 
sociated with all the glories of our past history ; its 
folds glitter at this moment before the eyes of man- 
kind as the sign of hope and of universal freedom ; 
and I trust that it will forever fly wdth undiminished 
splendor above free, independent, and kindred states, 
not divided into petty principalities or feeble leagues, 
but united, as they now are, under a government the 
mightiest, the freest, and the happiest upon which 
the sun looks down. 

If the glorious system under which we live goes 
down, it leaves the world not a single example of a 
free and great nation. The noblest, the grandest, the 
most successful of all human experiments in behalf 
of constitutional liberty will have failed, and the 
world can not hope to reconstruct a stable, powerflil, 
and enduring political system for the protection of 



314 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 

j)opular rights. Put out the light which streams 
from our institutions upon the world, and it is extin- 
guished forever. 

*■ I know net where is that Promethean heat 
That can thy hght relume." 



POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT TO- 
WARD THE INDIANS. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 
UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 20th, 1851. 

Mr. Chairman, — While I wish to see economy in 
the use of public money in every part of the govern- 
ment, I shall vote for the largest sum which it is pro- 
posed to assert in this bill as an appropriation for 
the payment of Indian agents. 

We must either pay agents to look after the In- 
dians, or we must pay troops to fight them : our al- 
ternative is conciliation or war ; and whether we re- 
gard economy or humanity, we can not for a moment 
hesitate which policy to adopt. 

It is far cheaper — leaving out of view nobler con- 
siderations — to deal in a magnanimous and liberal 
spirit with these wild tribes than it would be to make 
war upon them. We must make them respect us ; 
they must be taught to expect justice from us, and 
to confide in our good disposition toward them. 

Whenever you succeed in impressing them with a 
sense of your justice and your power ; whenever they 
can be made to comprehend that you intend to deal 
honestly with them, and learn that, if they violate the 
treaties which they have made with you, your troops 
are able to beat them, you will have no further trouble 
with them. 

At all times peace is to be preferred to war, if the 



316 POLICY OF GOVERNMENT TOWARD THE INDIANS. 

honor and the rights of the country can be maintain- 
ed without a resort to arms ; but especially ought we 
to pursue a pacific policy toward the feebler tribes 
who are now dependent upon our bounty. 

Their condition makes a powerful appeal to our 
humanity. It is not to be denied that they have been 
demoralized by their intercourse Avitli us ; they have 
lost all their former heroic qualities, and have learn- 
ed only the vices of the white race. 

It is far wiser, sir, by a liberal appropriation to se- 
cure the services of competent and trustworthy agents, 
who will conciliate the Indians, and teach them to 
submit to your government, than it would be to ap- 
propriate a less sum, and send Avorthless men to deal 
with them — men who will serve only to demoralize 
them still more, and to spread distrust among the 
tribes Avhom we are bound by every consideration to 
cherish and protect. 

I can not view the history of that unfortunate peo- 
ple without the profoundcst regret. Compare their 
condition to-day with their happy and prosperous 
state when they first welcomed the white race to their 
shores. Powerful, warlike, and brave, they dwelt in 
native majesty in their forest homes, and they held 
all these broad lands which we now claim as our 
heritage. They have retreated before our advancing 
civilization ; they have not a single resting-place be- 
tween the Atlantic and the Mississippi — all that 
wide domain is lost to them ; tlu^y are almost with- 
out a liome ; they can no longer follow the setting 
sun in his course, for powerful states are growing up 
on the Pacific shore ; their native dignity has disap- 



POLICY OF GOVERNMENT TOWARD THE INDIANS. 317 

pearecl; theii' numerous and warlike tribes have 
dwindled away; their numbers are diminishing so 
rapidly that it can not be doubted the race vnll be- 
come extinct ; and yet they retain that fierce spirit 
which impels them to resent the wrongs inflicted 
upon them by their oppressors. 

Is it not far nobler, sir— is it not far wiser, to deal 
generously with such a people, than to attempt, by a 
false economy, to lessen the appropriations for their 
benefit? Expend your money freely upon them — 
lavish it rather than stint it. 

Pay your Indian agents well; secure the confi- 
dence of these unfortunate tribes, and you will find 
it, in the end, true economy. 

I never wish to see a gun tmnied against the In- 
dian hereafter, or a weapon raised to strike the fee- 
ble race ; infinitely would I prefer to adopt the just 
and magnanimous policy of Mr. Jefierson, and cher- 
ish the descendants of the aborigines whom you have 
dispossessed of their homes. It is even now almost 
too late to atone for the wrongs and injuries which 
we have inflicted upon them ; but, Avhatever w^e can 
do to brighten their future ; whatever we can do to 
reclaim them from their degi^adation ; whatever we 
can do to make them acquainted with a true civiliza- 
tion, and to make them feel the elevating influences 
of a genuine Christianity, which in its unselfishness 
seeks only to lift up, to cheer, and to guide ; what- 
ever we can do to compensate for the past, let us do 

freely. 

Such, sir, are my views of the policy proper to be 
pursued toward the Indian tribes. I shall vote for 



318 POLICY OF GOVERNMENT TOWARD THE INDIANS. 

the largest appropriations which the bill proposes. 
I trust that the committee will agree with me, and 
that the action of the government in its dealings with 
the Indian tribes will hereafter exhibit a policy which 
blends economy with humanity, and true statesman- 
ship with exalted Christian sentiment. 



VINDICATION OF MR. WEBSTER 

REMARKS MADE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED 
STATES, FEBRUARY 25th, 1851. 

I THINK it must be clear to all, Mr. Chairman, that 
this debate has taken a most unfortunate turn. Who 
could have imagined that in a debate upon a bill pro- 
viding for the payment of the indemnity due to Mex- 
ico, a heated and violent speech would be uttered 
against the Secretary of State ? 

It will be admitted by the most malignant assail- 
ants of that eminent man that he has not sought to 
incur the responsibilities or to perform the duties 
which we are about to put uj^on him. It is not by 
his own act that he undertakes the task of conducting: 
a negotiation for the payment of a debt which this 
nation owes. That duty has devolved upon him by 
law ; and with that apparent to us all, it must occur 
to every man of ordinary charity or of ordinary fair- 
ness, that at a moment when we are debating a meas- 
ure of public policy like this, it is a most ungenerous 
turn to give the discussion to make it personal to the 
Secretary of State. Like the gentleman who has just 
taken his seat (Mr. Ashmun), and who comes from 
Massachusetts, the home of the great statesman, I 
shall content myself with an expression of my indig- 
nant sense of the wrong which has been done to us 
all by the colleague of that gentleman (Mr. Allen), in 

V 



320 VINDICATION OF MR. WEBSTER. 

his speech this evening, without attempting an elab- 
orate defense of Mr. Webster. 

The charge recoils from the great mark against 
which it is hurled like a javelin from the broad shield 
of Achilles. 

I know nothino; of the circumstances which have 
been referred to, but I am very sure that every gen- 
tleman of every party will agree with me in thinking 
that public reputation is public property; that the 
fame of a great man is not to be thrown away idly ; 
that a good name is to be valued above all j)rice ; and 
that extraordinary, groundless, and malignant charges 
are not to be thrown out in a body like this, whose 
proceedings are published to the whole world, with- 
out being replied to with something like severity, if 
not with indignation. 

A splendid reputation, that honors the country, 
to say the least of it, and throws its lustre about the 
American name, is prized by me beyond all price ; 
and a great life, wdiose golden orb is already setting 
beneath the horizon of time, is so much venerated by 
me, that I can not consent to see a single speck placed 
upon it by any malignant hand. 

Indeed, sir, if I could, I would send down to pos- 
terity the fame of every great American statesman of 
every party, Avithout a single spot to stain it or a sin- 
gle shadow to dim it. 

There is not a man living among us, I care not how 
fierce the rivalry of party may have been, or how 
heated the contests into which we have been plunged 
— ^there is not an illustrious living American whose 
good name I do not value, and I should rejoice to 



VINDICATION OF MR. WEBSTER. 321 

know that every one of them would preserve through- 
out his life an untarnished fame, and sleep at the 
close of his career in an honored grave. And I ven- 
ture to say, sir, that there is not a gentleman present 
this evening who has not listened with impatience to 
the charges which have been so unnecessarily, so wan- 
tonly, and, I believe I may say, so wickedly uttered 
against one of our most illustrious men. 

Mr. Chairman, I must be allowed to say that much 
of the hostility which we have witnessed this evening 
is due to the fact that, in the contest which has just 
gone by, when a cloud hung over this country which 
threw its portentous shadow over the whole heavens, 
so that good men began to tremble for the fate of the 
government, and bad men began to hope that it would 
be overthrown — it was because at that moment this 
great man stood up for his country, and denounced 
the factions that would destroy it, that this fierce hos- 
tility is exhibited. It is because he took upon him 
the great task of resisting the legions which were 
bearing down against the rights of the South, bring- 
ing all the energy and strength of his intellect into 
the service of his country, and holding up the Con- 
stitution as a shield for the protection of our rights, 
that he has been so grossly and wantonly assailed. 

I do not doubt, sir, that all this hostility exhibited 
by the Free-Soil faction is due to the fact that the 
great statesman who is the object of it threw himself, 
at that momentous crisis in our history, in the way 
of their destructive schemes, and contributed so large- 
ly toward effecting that pacification which the coun- 
try has hailed with so much satisfaction. Mr. Web- 

X 



322 VINDICATION OF MR. WEBSTER. 

ster put every thing at stake for the country, and, 
notwithstanding attacks of this kind, his fame, wliich 
was resplendent before, will go down to posterity 
with still higher lustre than it could^have worn but 
for the courage wdiich he displayed on that occasion. 
He stands out before the eyes of mankind in a far 
grander position than he would have occupied had 
he not taken that bold stand, wdth so much generos- 
ity and with so much self-sacrificing j)atriotism in 
behalf of the rights of the Southern people. For 
one, as an American, I thank him for his courage ; 
and, as a Southern man, I am grateful to him for his 
magnanimity. 

His name will be recorded upon the brightest 
pages of the history of our times, in the noblest 
terms. Massachusetts may re2:)udiate him ; I do 
not believe she will. Massachusetts will be true to 
her own fame, and will stand by her great son ; but 
if she were to repudiate him, the nation Avould take 
him up. He is in no danger ; he stands stronger to- 
day in the affections of his countrymen than he ever 
stood before. Such shafts as have been hurled at 
him can not reach him. 

Among the first acts of my public life in this hall 
was a defense of Mr. Webster from charges brought 
against him by a distinguished gentleman from Penn- 
sylvania, who, I was confident, misapprehended the 
facts of which he spoke. I then said that, having 
but a few months before returned from Europe, where 
I held a diplomatic appointment which brought me 
into official relations with Mr. Webster, and gave me 
the opportunity of learning the sentiments of the pub- 



VINDICATION OF MR. WEBSTER. 323 

lie men of Europe respecting liim, I could unhesita- 
tingly declare that he had exhibited the utmost solic- 
itude for the welfare and the honor of his country; 
that his great fame filled every American citizen with 
pride ; and that in the glorious constellation of illus- 
trious names adorning the republic, there was not 
one which shone with greater splendor than that of 
Daniel Webster. 

My service in this House is about to close. I shall 
retire from it voluntarily, and I count it a piece of 
good fortune that one of my last acts here is the vin- 
dication of that great statesman. I have had but 
one opinion of him from the beginning to the end. 
He rises in our midst like some tall cliff; mists and 
shadow^s settle at his feet, but eternal sunshine gilds 
his noble brow. The heavens are now serene — they 
are crowded and adorned with constellations ; but 
every one who looks back to the period of which I 
have spoken will remember that they were overcast 
with clouds; the first star that liroke the darkness 
and cheered the country, then full of anxiety, was 
Daniel Webster. Since then, others have aj)peared, 
but he will ever wear the great honor of emerging 
first, with all his splendor, from the gloom which 
overshadowed us. 

Mr. Chairman, I have felt that it was due to the 
personal and political relations which I bear to that 
eminent man that I should make this public declara- 
tion of my confidence in him. 

I believe that he is upright ; so far as the public 
counsels of his country can bear witness to his course, 
it has been above suspicion ; every act shoAvs that he 



324 VINDICATION or MR. WEBSTER. 

has lived for his countr}'. I believe that he has no 
higher aspiration than that which he has so nobly 
and eloquently expressed in the conclusion of one of 
his own great speeches, that the last feeble and lin- 
gering glance of his ieyes might, when for the last time 
they saw the sun in the heavens, behold him shining 
upon states still united and prosperous, and the gor- 
geous ensign of the republic " still full high advanced, 
its arms and trophies streaming in their original lus- 
tre, not a stri^^e erased or polluted, not a single star 
obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable in- 
terrogatory as, What is all this worth? nor those 
other words of delusion and folly. Liberty first and 
Union afterward, but every Avhere spread all over 
• in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample 
folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, 
and in every wind under the whole heaven, that other 
sentiment, dear to every true American heart. Liberty 
and Union ; now and forever, one and inseparable." 



ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 

A PAPER ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE SECOND CONGRESSIONAL 
DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, DECLINING A RE-ELECTION TO CONGRESS, DE- 
CEMBER 3d, 1850. 

Before entering upon the engrossing duties of the 
session of Congress which has just opened, I wish to 
execute a purpose which was formed long since, and 
to which I still adhere — that is, to decline a re-elec- 
tion to the House of Hei^resentatives. Some of my 
friends were made acquainted with this purj^ose more 
than a twelvemonth ago, but, as I continue to receive 
letters from gentlemen residing in different j^arts of 
the district urging me to consent to be a candidate 
once more, I think it best to announce my determina- 
tion to retire in a public and formal manner. 

At the expiration of my j^resent term I shall have 
been engaged in your service for six successive years. 
While I have fully appreciated the honor of repre- 
senting }'ou in the Congress of the United States, I 
have at all times been sensible of the great duties 
which the trust devolved upon mc. I have encoun- 
tered opposition, and my course has been freely can- 
vassed, but I believe that I have enjoyed a large 
share of your confidence. I have endeavored through- 
out my public life to do my duty faithfully. I have 
been, at every step of my progress, animated with the 
hope of advancing your interests, and of contributing 
somewhat to the prosperity and the glory of the 
whole country. This consciousness is above all price. 



326 ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 

I shall cherish it through life. It would sustain me 
even in the face of your frowns, and under the bur- 
den of your censure. I have, however, the high sat- 
isfaction of believing that my course meets the appro- 
bation of a very large majority of those who have re- 
peatedly chosen me to represent them. 

The period through which the country has passed 
since I entered Congress is justly regarded as one of 
the most eventful in our history. Within that time, 
Texas has been annexed to the United States ; we have 
carried on and brought to a close a brilliant war ; we 
have acquired from Mexico, by treaty, vast posses- 
sions which have seated our power and our institu- 
tions on the Pacific, so that we now stretch an undis- 
puted empire over a territory bounded by the two 
great oceans of the world; we have just passed through 
a storm which swept the country with unprecedented 
fury, and which has tried the strength of our polit- 
ical system. The stately fabric still stands, and is, I 
hojDC, destined to stand, when the history of the strug- 
gle through which we have come will be referred to 
only as an illustration of the power of a confederate 
republic to exist in the midst of great popular com- 
motions. The great questions of the time seem now 
to be settled ; the receding waves and the brighten- 
ing horizon promise a season of repose. We are at 
peace with all the world, and we have at the head of 
the government an administration which announces 
for its guidance principles so just, so wise, and, I may 
say, so noble, that we may hope to escape collision 
with foreign powers, while the rights and the honor 
of our country are vigorously maintained and vindi- 



ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 327 

cated. The administration, too, is pledged to the 
support of the adjustment of domestic troubles which 
Congress so lately effected, after the longest and most 
important session it ever held. 

Having borne my part in these important events, 
I feel that I may retire from the place to which you 
have repeatedly elevated me without exposing myself 
to the charge of indifference to your interests, or a 
disposition to shrink from any responsibility which I 
ought to encounter. 

The events which have transpired within the last 
twelve months, so far from impairing the strength of 
our political system, have really served to demon- 
strate it. There is, to-day, a growing conviction in 
the mind of the whole nation, that the Constitution 
must be adhered to in its pristine spirit, and that, 
while it is adhered to, the republic will endure. A 
storm which sweeps the ocean and drives the vessel 
before its fury makes the mariner look more closely 
to his means of safety, and a political convulsion 
which threatens to overthrow the government brings 
about a recurrence to the great elementary principles 
upon which the fabric rests. States sj^read over a 
continent, with every variety of soil and climate, with 
diverse interests, rapidly advancing in wealth, pow- 
er, and population, and held together by a general 
government of great but limited powers, must feel 
that their harmonious progress can be secured only 
by a faithful adherence to the Constitution. Some 
who witness our unprecedented growth express the 
apprehension that our territory is becoming too wide- 
ly extended to be embraced within a single govern- 



o28 ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 

ment. I do not, for a moment, share this apprehen- 
sion. The great political fabric under which we live 
is new and complex, and, I believe, capable of great 
enlargement. Nothino- in ancient or modern times 
can furnish a resemblance to it. It does not consist 
of a single state, like some of the ancient republics, 
nor is it an empire like the Roman, concentrating its 
strength in a single central seat of power, and spread- 
ing its arms and its institutions by conquest over re- 
mote regions. Our growth is natm'al and sponta- 
neous ; it is the result of the inherent energy of our 
people, and it does not enfeeble the general govern- 
ment by bringing new states under its jurisdiction. 
The Koman empire sent its eagles, in the hands of 
the Roman soldier, from the African desert to North- 
ern Germany, and from the Euphrates to the Atlan- 
tic Ocean. The principle upon which this empire 
was extended was force : a decay of the central pow- 
er left the distant possessions at liberty to assert their 
independence, and they threw oif a yoke which the 
feeble hand of a degenerate race could no longer bind 
upon their necks. But our progress is the spread of 
a great family, all bearing with them the law, the 
traditions, the sympathies, and the religion of those 
from whom they have removed. Our system of gov- 
ernment, too, blends the advantages of a local juris- 
diction Avith the authority of a federal power. Mon- 
tesquieu, one of the most philosophical political writ- 
ers which any age has produced, says that "a Confed- 
erate Republic has all the internal advantages of a 
republican, together with the external force of a mo- 
narchical government. As this government is com- 



ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 329 

posed of small republics, it enjoys tlie internal hap- 
piness of each, and, with respect to its external situ- 
ation, it is possessed, by means of the association, of 
all the advantages of large monarchies. ""' Our gov- 
ernment, then, bemg a confederate republic, will en- 
able us to spread our population and our institutions 
over our entire domain. We must bear in mind, too, 
that modern civilization has wrouo;ht ffreat changes 
in the relations which nations bear to each other. 
The means of intercommunication are so improved by 
modern science, that those parts of the world which 
we have been accustomed to consider the. most re- 
mote from each other are brought into neighborhood. 
Steam and the magnetic telegraph enable us to cir- 
culate ideas throughout our wide-spread Imiits with 
a rapidity that overcomes time and distance ; what is 
uttered or Avritten at the seat of the federal govern- 
ment is addressed directly to the great body of the 
American people ; they observe the movements of the 
government, and pass upon our measures as if they 
were present at the capital. The action of the gov- 
ernment is felt immediately at the most remote points, 
and an impression is made as directly upon the great 
mind of the nation as if its widely-scattered popula- 
tion were gathered into a single community. The 
progress of business in the halls of Congress is kno"SMi 
in New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Boston as soon as it 
is kno^Mi in Washington. Even the most remote 
parts of our country are not really more distant from 
each other than the most widely-separated points of 
the old thirteen states were when a single government 
was established for them. These means of intercom- 



330 ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 

munication must be increased ; tliey must be taxed 
as lightly as possible ; postage must be reduced; rail- 
roads must be multiplied, and the Pacific coast must 
be brought nearer to us by the early construction of 
one of those great highways of commerce and of trav- 
el. The scheme of retaliation lately projected of dis- 
criminating against the products of other states must 
be abandoned, and our whole legislation — the legisla- 
tion of Congress and the legislation of the States- 
must be guided by a comprehensive, national, and 
patriotic spirit. These states must regard each oth- 
er as kindred states ; the Constitution must be recog- 
nized in all of them as the supreme law ; and the acts 
of Congress, passed in accordance with its provisions, 
must be obeyed ; and we must fix in our own minds 
and in our hearts the idea that, as we have had a 
common origin, we must have a common destiny. If 
the past has witnessed our struggles, let the future 
exhibit our triumphs. Let the great standard of the 
republic forever float over states associated in a Union 
as indissoluble as it is glorious. 

The disturbing question which has threatened to 
array one section against another in irreconcilable 
hostility is disposed of I comprehended its danger, 
and I foresaw that the agitation which attended it 
would be fatal, unless the government could be brought 
to confine its action within the limits ordained by the 
Constitution. I felt it to be my duty, in the early 
part of the late session of Congress, to assert your 
rights in the strongest terms, and to state in the most 
explicit manner what it seemed to me must be the 
certain and disastrous issue of any act of aggression 



ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 331 

on them by the general government. This frankness 
was due to you, to the North, by whose representa- 
tives hostile measures were urged, and to the country 
at large. The protracted discussion carried on in 
Congress, and the angry feeling which too often char- 
acterized it, filled the country with apprehension, and 
impeded the progress of public business. 

But that scene prepared the way for the great 
measures which followed, and which constitute a com- 
plete adjustment of the alarming controversy which 
for so long a time disturbed the repose of the coun- 
try. The beginning was necessary to the end. The 
adjustment, in the language of President Fillmore's 
admirable message, is to be regarded as a "final one.*" 
The general government possesses no power to inter- 
fere with our domestic institutions ; its power ex- 
hausts itself when it touches the limits of a state- 
Let us, then, cultivate a patriotism large enough to 
embrace our whole country. Let us hope that our 
rights will be respected by the other states of the 
Union. Let lis forbear any hostile acts on our own 
part. I certainly desire to see in the midst of the 
great agricultural regions of the South a varied in- 
dustry, which shall rival that of the North, and which 
shall spread over our fertile plains all the embellish- 
ments which wealth and a high civilization can be- 
stow. I desire, too, to see a direct trade with foreign 
countries carried on through Soutliern ports. But I 
desire to see all this brought about by the enterprise 
and the energy of our people, entering into a bold and 
generous competition with those of the other states. 
We should seek to make Alabama a great and wealthy 



332 ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS. 

state, and Ave can do this by the vigorous development 
of our resources. Our fertile soil, our noble streams, 
our great cotton crop, our exhaustless mineral wealth, 
our population intelligent, industrious, enterprising, 
and religious, tliese will enable us to advance with a 
steady and rapid march in civilization, without re- 
sorting to legislative expedients to tax the products 
of other states associated with us in a common gov- 
ernment, one of the great objects of which is to keep 
open the channels of intercommunication. 

Tliese are my views ; they are frankly expressed, 
and I hope that they will meet your approbation. In 
bringing our connection as constituents and rejDresent- 
ative to a close, I beg you to receive them as the sen- 
timents of a heart penetrated with a sense of your 
kindness, and unswervingly devoted to those who, 
throughout my political course, have given me a sup- 
port as steady as it has been generous. I shall re- 
turn to enter upon my duties once more as a citizen. 
I fixed my residence among you when young and in- 
experienced, and I shall return to my cherished home 
with an affection for it whicli neither time nor ab- 
sence liave chilled. Coming as I now am to mature 
manhood, I feel that I must employ the vigor of my 
life in attention to interests which have been too long 
neglected, and I sliall gladly relinquish the honors 
and the responsibilities of public life, to enter upon 
the quieter but happier duties of a private station. 

Henry W. Hilliard. 

Washington, December 3d, 1850. 



GENERAL TAYLOKS CLAIMS TO THE 
PRESIDENCY^ 

A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE BUENA VISTA FESTIVAL, HELD IN THE 
CHINESE MUSEUM, PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 22d, 1848. 

We meet, fellow-citizens, under the most interest- 
ing circumstances ; the past and the future shed their 
blended light upon us. I rejoice that I am here on 
this occasion, and that I see around me so large an 
assemblage of the citizens of Philadelphia — a city re- 
no^viied not only for its wealth and intelligence, but 
for its constant attachment to Whig principles. I 
know that a double motive brings us together this 
evening ; we come to celebrate the anniversary of a 
day which gave Washington to the world, and of a 
day which opened upon one of the most extraordinary 
battle-scenes which has occurred in ancient or modern 
times — a iDattle-scene which exhibited the great qual- 
ities of another American general who so strongly 
resembles Washington — I mean General Zachary 
Taylor. The day will go down to posterity with 
these glorious associations, and will call out from 
succeeding generations ever-increasing gratulations. 
We meet not only to celebrate these great results, but 
to counsel together, on this hallowed anniversary, 
upon the best interests of the country. 

At the close of the Revolutionary Avar, the colonies 
which had fought through that great struggle became 
united states, under a system of confederation which 



334 GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 

did not accomplish the objects for which it was cre- 
ated. A Convention met to form a more perfect un- 
ion, composed of the leading spirits of the time, and 
the present Constitution was agreed upon. Who 
was chosen to guide the new government into the 
troubled waters of an untried future ? Not Adams, 
trained as he was in the departments of civil life ; 
not Hamilton, with his clear, profound, and compre- 
hensive intellect ; not Jefferson, with all his genius, 
courage, and enthusiasm. No, to none of these was 
the helm committed in that trying hour ; but the 
bold, manly, vigorous hand of Washington grasped 
it, and the world saw the doubt and apprehension of 
a young nation, just entering upon its career, soon 
give way to confidence and hope. 

The simple grandeur of that first president was 
suited to the great proportions of the government 
which he undertook to administer. We live in event- 
ful times. Tlie great virtues of the early days of the 
republic seem almost lost to us. We need some 
man who is not simply a politician ; some man cast 
in a noble mould ; some man endeared to the Amer- 
ican people by his services ; some man Avho, on try- 
ing occasions, has displayed both courage and Avis- 
dom ; some man whose public and private character 
are alike spotless, to vindicate the principles of the 
American government, and bring it back to its purer 
and better days. 

In the order of Providence, such a man is present- 
ed to us now. That man is General Zachary Taylor. 
(Great acclamation.) 

We desire to-day, in the midst of the impressive 



GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 335 

scenes which surround us, to present him to the peo- 
ple of the United States as a candidate for the pres- 
idency. Washington once filled that great station. 
After the lapse of half a century, we wish to see it 
filled by Taylor, whose name and deeds will be for- 
ever associated with his. 

We present General Taylor as a candidate, not 
merely because of his great strength with the Amer- 
ican people, but because of the great qualities Avhich 
belonjx to him. To a mind clear and vio;orous he 
adds a great heart. His enlightened judgment, his 
self-possession in the midst of danger, his keen fore- 
sight, his love of*truth, his independence, his unself- 
ishness, his modesty, these all proclaim him great. 
His whole character is admu^ably balanced, display- 
ing a rare combination of high endowments. 

How complete is his oblivion of self! His whole 
course is characterized by a generous regard for oth- 
ers. His reception at New Orleans was a brilliant 
one, and a friend remarked to him, ' ' General, this is 
a bright day for you; you must have enjoyed it." 
"Not altogether," he replied; "there were so many 
women and children present that I was afraid some 
of them Avould get hurt." Was there ever before a 
man heard of, who, upon the occasion of a great and 
imposing public reception, was more alarmed for the 
safety of women and children than elated at the hon- 
ors paid him ? This little incident, so unimportant 
in itself, beautifully illustrates a great character. 

Was there ever before a man known among us who 
spoke of others as better qualified than himself for 
an office to which the uplifted voice of a nation was 



336 GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 

calling him ? In the letter just read to us, General 
Taylor speaks of Henry Clay as better suited (tre- 
mendous applause) to the presidency than himself. 
T rejoice, fellow-citizens, at this demonstration of re- 
gard for Mr. Clay. It proves your attachment to 
the Whig cause. It attests the sacrifice you make 
in giving up one who has long stood at the helm, 
and firmly held his station amid tempest and storm. 
You have done battle for him nobly, and you still 
cheer /wm, while you rally round the standard of a 
great captain who will lead us to certain victory. 
(Loud cheers.) Taylor is worthy to lead you; his 
great services and his great character alike claim your 
confidence. Of him it may be said, as one said of a 

noble Roman, 
« 

, " The elements are 

So mix'J in him, that Nature might stand up, 
And say to all the world, This is a man.*' 

His character is illustrated by his career. We all 
remember the profound anxiety which pervaded the 
country when the news reached us that the small 
army under General Taylor, then stationed uj^on the 
Hio Grande, was threatened by an overwhelming- 
Mexican force ; that Thornton and his company were 
cut ofi", and that an attack was about to be made on 
Fort Brown. The commanding general had marched 
to Point Isabel for his supplies. He was returning ; 
but he seemed to be cut off by a Mexican army, 
which occupied the ground before him, and threaten- 
ed to annihilate him. The battle of Palo Alto was 
fought, and the Mexicans gave back before the Amer- 
ican guns. The next morning a council of officers was 



GENERAL TAYLORS CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 667 

assembled, and the question Avas asked, " Shall we re- 
turn to Pomt Isabel, or advance to Fort Brown?" 
There were brave officers Avho thought it rash to ad- 
vance in the face of an overwhelming force, strongly 
posted, and they thought it best to fall back. After 
hearing opinions. General Taylor said, "Gentlemen, 
if I live, I will slee^:) in Fort BroAvn to-night. " With 
Avhat anxiety did the little garrison left there await 
the result of that day's fight ! The fierce and exult- 
ing hosts poured doAvn upon the American troops, 
and for a moment hid them from view; but Avhen the 
cloud of battle was rent, out rode Taylor at their 
head, the broken ranks of the Mexican army flying 
before him, and bearing to Fort Brown the first ncAvs 
of their own defeat, as they swept by in utter terror 
and confusion. 

The next conflict betAveen the American and Mex- 
ican arms took place at Monterey — a Availed city, fill- 
ed Avith troops, and defying attack. But it yielded 
to the impetuous valor of American soldiers, led on 
by Taylor. No strength of position, no disprojjortion 
of numbers, could Avithstand them. The annals of 
the Avorld can not furnish a parallel to such an ex- 
ploit. 

The semi-ftibulous accounts of the conquest of Gra- 
nada shoAv no such achievement. 

But at Buena Vista General Taylor exhibited the 
great qualities Avhich belong to him so conspicuously 
that the Avorld saAv he Avas a man cast in no common 
mould. It must be remembered that a very large 
proportion of the regular force Avas withdraAvn from 
him, and he Avas left in an advanced and exposed 

Y 



338 GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 

position, supported only by a small body of volun- 
teers. 

The Mexican army, twenty thousand strong, was 
bearing down upon him, led by their greatest chief, 
Santa Anna. In this perilous position, it became 
General Taylor s duty to determine whether he should 
stand and make battle against such fearful odds, or 
fall back upon Monterey, as he had been authorized 
to do by the commander-in-chief. The great consid- 
erations involved in his decision passed in review be- 
fore him. Tf he fell back, he must abandon to the en- 
emy the whole country which the position command- 
ed. The spirit of the army, too, would be damped by 
a retreat. Yet his returning spies rej^orted the ad- 
vance of the Mexican force in all its overpowering 
strength ; and, as he looked out upon his own lines, 
he saw himself supported by less than five thousand 
troops, and of these only two squadroils of cavalry 
and three battalions of light artillery, making just 
four hundred and fifty-three (453) men, were regular 
soldiers. He resolved to stand. His mind swept the 
whole horizon about him. He saw his danger, but 
he saw his duty, and he resolved to stand. 

The shock of battle came. The infuriated Mexican 
hosts poured doAvn upon the little body of American 
troops, almost surrounding them ; but Taylor was 
there, unshaken as a rock, against which the billows 
dash in vain ; and when no regimeiit could be found 
to support a battery, he supported it himself 

When, after two days' struggle, the smoke of battle 
cleared away from that hard-fought field, there stood 
Taylor, his bayonets gilded by the sun of victory, and 



GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 339 

the banner of his country, which floated over him, 
crowned with imperishable victory. 

We need, at this moment, such a man to stand for- 
ward as our leader. The crisis demands him, and we 
may thank an overruling Providence that the crisis 
has produced him. Trying occasions call out great 
men. They are sometimes born amid convulsions, 
which they afterward guide for the good of mankind. 
Now, when the government is in the hands of a reck- 
less administration, we must wrest it from those who 
would drive it headlong upon swift destruction. We 
want a leader who will open the way to victory — who 
v/ill scatter the serried ranks of the op230sing force — 
and that leader is "the old thunderer of the Cordil- 
leras."" Victory knows his standard. Even now, 
poised in mid air, it waits to see that standard once 
more flung out under the heavens, to light upon it, 
and proclaim a peaceful and beneficent conquest. 

It is said he is not a Whig. Who can doubt, after 
the letter which we have read here to-night 1 He is 
not the mere creature of a party. I honor him for it. 
He belongs to his country — to his whole country; 
and, if he should undertake the administration of the 
government, he will enter upon his great task, as 
Washington did, uncommitted, unfettered, looking to 
no resolutions of a Convention, but looking to the 
condition of the country and to the Constitution. 

He is a Whig — a Whig in 2>rinciple, a Whig in 
aflinities — and he Avill be a Whig upon the noblest 
model. 

There is a broad distinction between the j^rinciples 
and the measures of a part}^ The great i:)rinciple of 



340 GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 

the Whig party is its conservative feeling, its dispo- 
sition to check the headlong career of a dangerous ad- 
ministration, to arrest the proclivity of the govern- 
ment, and bring it back to the purer and better days 
of the republic. Measures are designed to carry out 
principles, and must vary with the changing condi- 
tion of the country. But there is an ever-springing 
vigor about the great principles of the Whig party ; 
and in view of them, in the noblest sense of the term. 
General Taylor is a Whig. The country has suffered 
too much from mere partisans, and I desire to con- 
tribute to the election of a President who Avill rise 
into the loftier character of a patriot. 

Gentlemen, at this hour we must look to our cause. 
We must give up men. I have stood by Mr. Clay 
Avith unshrinking fidelity. At Harrisburg, in 1839, 
I sustained his nomination up to the last moment ; 
but, when General Harrison Avas chosen, I took my 
place under his standard, and folloAved it into the 
thickest of the fight. In my judgment, Ave must take 
the same course noAV, or our cause is doomed to dis- 
aster and defeat. 

We are practical men. We shall not indulge the 
Avild enthusiasm Avhich would impel us into a desper- 
ate, hopeless conflict for the elcA^ation of a favorite 
leader. Men must give Avay that the cause may tri- 
umph. Under General Taylor s banner Ave fear no 
defeat. He stood upon the field of Buena Vista sup- 
ported mainly by volunteers — the regular troops had 
been AvithdraAvn from him ; and yet, Avhen Santa 
Anna, Avith his tAvcnty thousand men, rushed doAvn 
upon him, they recoiled from the shock, covered with 



GENERAL TAYLORS CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 341 

inglorious defeat. So it is now. General Taylor 
stands out the candidate of the people. He is sus- 
tained only by volunteers. The regular forces have 
not yet come into the field. But he can not be driven 
from his position ; and if attacked by any force, under 
any leader, he will give them another Buena Vista. 
I see around me gallant spirits, and I know that, 
when General Taylor's name is brought forward, they 
will spring to their guns as Bragg and Washington 
did to their batteries. 

The States are ready to declare for him. New En- 
gland wdll soon fling out his banner. New York is 
already sending its forces to his support, and Avill give 
him the vote of an empire. Pennsylvania will march 
its legions into the lines which form about him. Vir- 
ginia only waits to hear his name proclaimed to join 
the mighty Whig phalanx. A shout for Taylor comes 
up from the great West ; while almost the whole 
South — North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Loui- 
siana, and Florida — have already declared for him ; 
and I firmly believe that, if we sjjread that banner to 
the breeze in Alabama, we shall be able, though 
against great odds, to bring the ship, so long mis- 
guided, into the Whig line of battle. 

Rome was accustomed to call home^er victorious 
generals, and reward them with public triumphs. 
We shall call home a general, so modest, so pure, so 
like Washington, to give him a still higher reward. 
We have other generals to lead our armies to battle, 
but to him — to Taylor — we shall intrust the helm of 
state. He leads home no captives ; he leaves behind 
no prisoners in chains ; and lie returns, as we hojDe, 



342 GENERAL TAYLOR's CLAIMS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 

to wield, with the blessing of God, the powers of the 
chief magistracy, and to bring back the government 
to its ancient purity. 

George Washington was the first President Ox' the 
United States. In the gallery of the King of the 
French, at Versailles, in a collection of illustrious por- 
traits, I saw the form of that American whose fame 
is so wide that mankind claim it as a heritao;e, and I 
rejoiced that I was an American. I trust that now, 
from the very storm of battle, another man is disclosed 
to the vicAv of the American people, who, while he 
resembles Washington in the great lineaments of his 
character, will administer the government as he did. 

Such is my conviction of the dangers to which the 
country is exposed — such my earnest wish to bring 
the government back to its earlier and better days, 
that, whatever standard there may be in the field, my 
heart, my voice, my energies shall be employed in 
sup]3ort of General Taylor. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND THE UNION. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN BOSTON, AT A DINNER GIVEN BY THE CITY 
COUNCIL TO A COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS, MARCH 13th, 1848. 

Mr. President,— The very handsome tribute to 
Alabama to which we have just listened calls for 
some reply on my part. 

I should be insensible too, sir, to generous emo- 
tions if I could remain silent after the allusion which 
has been made to the state of Avhich I am the only 
representative present by the very eloquent and dis- 
tincruished gentleman (Hon. Harrison Gray Otis) to 
whose speech we have all listened with so much pleas- 
ure If there were nothing else to make this even- 
incr remarkable— if we could forget that every state 
of'the Union has her representative here— if we could 
foro-et the dignified character of that national mission 
whtch assembles us in this city— if we could overlook 
the number of other distinguished persons who are 
here this evening, the presence of that gentleman 
alone wovdd impart to it a peculiar interest. 

His illustrious career is already historical. He 
stands before us a noble impersonation of the great 
qualities which rendered the earlier period of our 
country's history so renowned. 

Belonging to a younger generation, I think myselt 
most fortunate in being present on this occasion; i 
have heard one whose flime long since inspired the 
wish to meet him, and whose eloquence gave him tlie 



344 MASSACHUSETTS AND THE UNION. 

pre-eminence in Congress in those days when that 
was regarded as the highest distinction in this coun- 
try. In his speech this evening he has shed light 
upon an eventful 23eriod in our history, and has shown 
that New England felt her full share of patriotic ar- 
dor even at the commencement of the late war with 
Great Britain. 

He sjDeaks of Alabama as she was when the sav- 
age roamed through her native forests, and when the 
beauty of her scenery might have induced the adven- 
turous traveler to penetrate far into the green and 
pathless wilderness, or to explore her noble streams, 
if the Indian in his untamed ferocity had not driven 
him away from bowers hardly less beautiful than 
those of Eden. 

If he Avere now to visit Alabama, he would find 
that the wilderness had been made glad ; the Indian 
has followed in the track of the setting sun ; civiliza- 
tion, wealth, and refinement would meet his view, 
and the gentleman would find himself welcomed to 
homes whose hospitality might tempt him to linger 
long under our Southern skies. 

It is quite true, Mr. President, that I am strongly 
attached to the Union ; my sentiments are not mis- 
understood by the gentleman who has done me the 
honor to refer to them ; and I know, sir, that the 
people of Alabama are faithful to the Union. 

A more patriotic jDCople can not be found any 
where : they will stand by the government and the 
Constitution. With j^eculiar interests, it is but nat- 
ural that they should exhibit some sensibility in re- 
gard to the legislation of Congress, and the spirit 



MASSACHUSETTS AND THE UNION. 345 

manifested by other states ; indeed, tliey must have 
lost all revolutionary recollections if they did not 
watch with jealousy the encroachments of the govern- 
ment, and demand from it an ample protection for 
all their property and all their rights. They confide 
in the good faith of the people of the United States, 
and in the just action of tlie government, which, they 
trust, will never transcend the limits of the Constitu- 
tion. 

I think, sir, I may promise for Alabama that she 
will stand shoulder to shoulder with Massachusetts 
in upholding the Constitution and the Union. Mas- 
sachusetts has been true to the Union throughout her 
whole history, and she will be loyal to it while her 
granite hills stand. How could she be otherwise? 
She is covered all over with monuments which mark 
the spots where the battles of freedom were fought ; 
the blood of martyrs consecrates her soil ; and the 
American, of all future times, will tread her plains 
and visit her heights with such emotions as swelled 
the bosom of the Athenian when he stood upon Mar- 
athon or Thermopylae. 

This very city was the cradle of American liberty, 
and the convulsion which rocked it was the Kevolu- 
tion. Yonder harbor witnessed the first resistance 
of the American people to the tyranny of the Brit- 
ish o;overnment. 

That granite column, which rises in its noble pro- 
portions not far from the spot where we are now as- 
sembled, marks the place where American valor first 
resisted and repelled British troops. 

But a little way from us is the spot where Wash- 



346 MASSACHUSETTS AND THE UNION. 

INGTON rode out to take command of the army of the 
Kevolution. 

Fanueil Hall yet rings with the tones of indignant 
and heroic men, who defied the colossal power of 
Great Britain. 

The house of Hancock yet stands, recalling the 
early struggles of that eventful period, and bringing 
vividly before us the man whose bold signature first 
graced the Declaration of Independence. 

The ashes of the elder Adams are minglino; with 
your soil, and we have just borne the remains of his 
illustrious son to the family tomb at Quincy. 

Nor is it in the past alone that we find Massachu- 
setts has shown her loyalty to the country, and her 
fidelity to the Union. At this moment her sons are 
engaged in the public councils, and are emulating the 
noble example set them by the men of that great gen- 
eration which has almost passed away. 

To one of them especially is the country indebted 
for services to the Union, and that country has con- 
ferred upon him the proudest title Avhicli an Amer- 
ican citizen can Avear — Defender of the Constitution. 
His argument in defense of the Union, made some 
years since in the Senate of the United States, in re- 
ply to Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, who, with all 
the ardor and frankness of his nature, spoke for the 
South, and uttered an indignant and vehement denun- 
ciation of the government, which seemed to l^e con- 
trolled by the policy of the North, ranks with the no- 
blest orations of ancient or modern times. 

Never to the j^eople of Athens, nor to the Senate 
of Rome, nor to the British Parliament, were nobler 



MASSACHUSETTS AND THE UNION. 347 

words addressed. That speech will stand when the 
walls of the Capitol in which it was uttered have 
crumbled into dust, Avhen the granite column on 
Bunker Hill is leveled by time, and when these proud 
states may no longer constitute a great confederacy. 
The sentiment with which that speech closes is the 
sentiment of the American people ; they have learn- 
ed it by heart ; future generations will utter it with 
glowing patriotism and irrepressible enthusiasm ; and 
every where throughout the Avide-spread borders of 
the republic the great j)opular cry will be, in all times 
when liberty is in danger or the Union threatened 
with disruption, "Liberty and Union ; now and for- 
ever, one and inse2:)arable." 



AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE AT CASTLE 
GARDEN, NEW YORK, OCTOBER 14th, 1850. 

Mr. Hilliard then rose, amid loud applause. He said : 

I FEEL myself honored, fellow-citizens, in being thus 
introduced to you by the venerable and distinguished 
President of the American Institute, who has so long 
devoted his talents and energies to the cause of in- 
dustry, and the development of the resources of this 
great state. 

And I feel myself honored, too, in being thus re- 
ceived by you, representing as you do the industry, 
the skill, the Avealth, and the enterprise which are so 
rapidly advancing our country in civilization. 

I come to you from a distant state — a state known 
to you mainly, so far, by its agriculture, yet not want- 
ing in mineral resources, and already engaged suc- 
cessfully in manufactures. But, coming from that 
state to this emporium of commerce — this city which 
has already outstripped every city on the Continent 
of Europe, and which is destined soon to rival the 
great metropolis of England itself — coming to this 
city, I feel there are some considerations Avhich bind 
us together in common sympathy. 

I can, on the present occasion, when there is so 
much all around you to interest you, advert to but 
one or two of these considerations. The first of these 
is, that we belong to the same country; we are all 



AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 349 

Americans ; we are all citizens of one government, 
I come from a state washed by the waters of the Gulf 
of Mexico, and I am now in a city belonging to a 
great state washed by the St. Lawrence, and stand 
this evening in a buildino- asrainst which the waves 
of New York Bay break; yet the broad expanse 
which stretches between New York and Alabama, 
between your home and my home, is our common 
country. Every part of it — every plain, and mount- 
ain, and stream, and village, and city, all belong to 
us ; and over the whole extent of it, the same great 
and beneficent political system spreads its majestic 
proportions. 

The same flag that floats over your shipping floats 
over ours ; the same historic recollections which warm 
your hearts warm ours ; and the same future that has 
opened to your eyes has opened to ours. Diversities 
T knoAv there are ; great states, called by difi*erent 
names, there are ; but they are not hostile states. 
No fortress frowns upon the streams which mark 
their boundaries ; it is but an extension of the same 
family ; they have spread from the Atlantic shores 
to the Mississippi — to the Kocky Mountains — to the 
Pacific coast, but they have borne with them every 
where the same religious and political institutions. 

As Americans, therefore, I know that in this we 
shall sympathize with each other — we have a com- 
mon country ; common in its origin, common in its 
liistory, and common in its destiny. There is another 
consideration to which I will advert. It is this : We 
are all alike interested in the success of American in- 
dustry; we feel we are pledged to this great cause. 



OOU AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

The industry which belongs to the North interests us 
of the South; and, gentlemen, I say to you, standing 
here as a representative in the Congress of the Unit- 
ed States, in my judgment, the common government 
ought to grant a wise, moderate, and steady protec- 
tion to American industry. 

I believe that agriculture, the first great employ- 
ment of man — the noblest employment of man — agri- 
culture, which takes one from his fireside into the 
fields, where with the plow he turns the soil to the 
face of heaven, and casts the seed in with his hands — 
agriculture should enjoy the support of the govern- 
ment, "whose protection should also be equally ex- 
tended to the mechanic arts. Let the artisan who 
labors at the forge or in the work-shop feel that his 
government cares for and protects him, and he will 
feel an interest in the prosjDcrity of his government. 

I regard this exhibition as one of the noblest dis- 
plays of American character. It is like America ! 

Some years since, Avhen in Europe, I witnessed an 
Exhibition of Industry in Paris ; it was comj)osed 
chiefly of articles of beauty and grace. Every where 
the eye rested on some article marked by exquisite 
skill. Every thing attested the perfection to which 
art had been carried in some of its branches. 

But when I entered your Fair to-night, I found that 
you are employed chiefly in the production of useful 
articles. I find here the plow, the scythe, the axe, 
and among these the manufactures of our looms. Of 
all the branches of human industry and si^ecimens of 
excellent skill, the great elements I see are those of 
power — mighty industry, spreading happiness over 
the land. 



AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 351 

In former times, wealth and industry were expend- 
ed for the benefit of the few. The head of a power- 
ful dynasty, one Avho had his retainers, enjoyed chiefly 
the result of their labors. It is not so now. The 
skill of the mechanic, the power of the artisan, and 
the wealth of the capitalist, these are now emj^loyed 
for the benefit of the masses ; not to make the great 
greater and the rich richer, but to spread comfort 
among the masses, to make their firesides smile Avith 
happiness, and their children rejoice in the home of 
industry. 

This is the gi*eat picture which America j)resents — 
industry diffusing wealth among the masses. It is 
a glorious spectacle of wide-spread happiness. The 
tendency of om^ institutions is to diffuse wealth rather 
than to concentrate it in a few hands, and I rejoice 
that it is so. But understand me ; wealth is entitled 
to protection as well as industry. I liave no sympa- 
thy with that class of reformers who would strip the 
wealthy of their possessions, and scatter them abroad 
in the vain hope of augmenting the sum of human 
happiness by destroying the great principles which 
bind society together. Far be it from me, gentlemen. 
I would have every man eujoy his individual prop- 
erty ; I am for that sort of industry which spreads 
wealth among the laboring classes, and elevates them 
gTadually to the scale that rises above them. 

Government is constituted for the good of those 
who support it ; no government can be stable or 
powerful which is not administered for their benefit. 
I find that I have announced a great political doc- 
trine ; it is one which history teaches, and future gen- 



352 AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

erations will write it upon the face of the whole 
earth. No government ought to stand which over- 
looks or neglects the welfare of its people. The 
American government, the greatest popular govern- 
ment which the world has ever beheld, is established 
for the protection of its j^eople in all their rights, at 
home and abroad. When the American citizen quits 
his own shores, he looks to his government for pro- 
tection against the tyranny of other governments ; 
upon the high seas he feels, in the flag that floats 
over him, ample security, because the whole power 
of America goes with that flag ; and, wherever he 
may go in his travels, he feels that his far-distant 
home guarantees his safety. 

But, gentlemen, this is not the only object for 
which our government was established. The citizen 
must be protected in the enjoyment of the fruits of 
his industry. The government, in conducting its 
great operations, must not overlook the individual 
prosperity of its people, or sacrifice their personal 
welfare merely to advance the glory of the state. It 
should, in its action, foster the labor of its people. 
I do not mean that it should shower benefits upon 
the indolent ; far from it. We raise our revenue by 
laying imposts. Now, are we to do this for the pur- 
pose of raising the greatest amount of revenue, and 
thus increase our treasury? Far from it. We are 
so to lay them uj)on foreign imports as to discrimin- 
ate in favor of our own industry ; not so as to keep 
out the foreign article, but to do what shall result to 
the benefit of the producer at home. Wliile we thus 
raise an ample revenue, and carry on the government, 



AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 3o3 

we shall make the system tributary to the prosperity 
of the whole country — the North and the South — 
and to all classes — the manufacturer and the planter. 
And now, gentlemen, allow me to say, speaking to 
you as a Southern man, that the diversified interests 
of our great country must all be respected. Tliere 
must be no war made by the South upon the proper- 
ty and the industry of the North, nor must there be 
any war made by the North upon the property and 
the industry of the South. I appeal to you, Mr. Pres- 
ident, distinguished as you have been in public life, 
personal character and mind, to hear me, Avhen I ut- 
ter this great truth. We must make no Avar upon 
your property and industry, and you must make no 
war upon ours. This is the great conservative ele- 
ment of our Union ; it is only upon this grant that 
we can hold together as a general government. We 
are one people, with a common origin ; our interests, 
however diversified, are yet kindred and dependent; 
our history and our destiny are the same. While we 
understand each other in this respect, there is no dif- 
ficulty in upholding the government. I am a South- 
ern man by birth, by education, by innumerable and 
indestructible ties ; my ashes will mingle with South- 
ern soil ; but my heart beats Avith exultation, Avhich 
I should .attempt in vain to express in Avords, Avhen I 
survey the groAvth, the prosperity, and the rising glo- 
ries of this Avliole country. Your resources, great as 
they are — }'our Avealth, teeming as it is — this magnif- 
icent display of mechanic art — none of this awakens 
Avithin me any jealous or uuAvorthy feeling. I rejoice 
in your pros2)erity ; I Avould cheer you in the bright 

Z 



354 AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 

career which opens before you ; all this constitutes a 
part of the power, the glory of my country ; and I 
look forward to the day Avhen, in the midst of the 
great agricultural regions of the South, a varied in- 
dustry will appear to add new embellishments and 
hew riches to a rei2:ion for which Providence has al- 
ready done so much. Our manufacturing establish- 
ments are multiplying, and will, I hope, soon rival 
yours. My own state is making rapid progress in 
this way. It is with this feeling that I greet you this 
evening — an American citizen addressing American 
citizens ! 

I desire the Union of these states to stand through 
all coming time. On the occasion to which my hon- 
orable friend the president has referred, I said in the 
House of Representatives what I am happy to say 
here: "I have never looked to a destruction of the 
government as a remedy for existing evils. Kival 
states would soon become belligerent states, and ar- 
mies would be employed to decide the supremacy be- 
tween them. The flag that floats to-day over every 
part of our wide-spread country, from the banks of 
the St. Lawrence, in full view of the British posses- 
sions, to the shores of the Pacific, where it catches the 
eye of the navigator returning from Asia, and from 
our ships, which bear it ujDon all the waters of the 
earth, is known and honored as the ensign of a great 
and powerful republic. It is associated with all the 
glories of our past history; its folds glitter before the 
eyes of mankind as the sign of hope and universal 
freedom ; and I trust that it will forever fly over 
states free, prosperous, and kindred; not divided into 



AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 355 

petty principalities or feeble leagues, but united, as 
they are to-day, under a government the freest, the 
happiest, and the noblest upon which the sun has 
ever shone." 

This sentiment I adhere to ; here and elsewhere I 
proclaim it; I desire to see the Union which binds 
these states stand. To j^erpetuate it, we must be 
just to each other. 

We occupy a great central position ; Europe lies 
on one side of us, Asia on the other ; and if we hold 
together as one people, no glass is broad enough or 
clear enough to read the horoscope which the future 
opens before us. Here agriculture will yield its ex- 
haustless treasures; here commerce will bring the 
products of every clime ; mechanic industry will 
achieve its greatest triumphs ; the arts will produce 
their noblest works ; intellect will accomplish its high- 
est labors and exhibit its grandest discoveries ; civil- 
ization will here make its abode, and surround itself 
with every thing which can adorn and brighten hu- 
man life. 

Let us, then, stand by the Constitution. The ene- 
mies of the Constitution are the enemies of the gov- 
ernment — the enemies of the country. The govern- 
ment can not exist unless the Constitution is to be 
obeyed. If some of its provisions seem to bear hard 
on you, you must remember that some of its provis- 
ions seem to bear hard on us. The Constitution must 
be respected; its authority is supreme. We must 
bear and forbear. When a crisis comes which aj)peals 
to our sectional sentiments — a crisis which would ar- 
ray the North against the South — let us rekindle our 



356 AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

patriotism, by going back to the scenes in which the 
great and the good men took part who formed the 
Constitution, and we shall learn from them to deal 
with each other as members of the same great family, 
and to cherish a patriotism broad enough to embrace 

our WHOLE COUNTRY. 

I thank you, fellow-citizens, for your kind indul- 
gence in bearing with me, and for the very cordial 
manner in which you have responded to the senti- 
ments which I have ventured to express. 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE MUSICAL FUND HALL, PHILADELPHIA, 
JANUARY 3d, 1851. 

On the ocl of August, 1492, three small ships in the 
23ort of Palos, on the coast of Spain, were seen to 
spread their sails to the winds, and direct their course 
to the west. They bore Christopher Columbus and 
his companions, who, leaving tlie shores of Europe, 
sought a new world. For eight long years genius had 
struggled against discouragements ; Genoa, France, 
England, and Portugal had all rejected the earnest 
appeals of that great navigator, whose mind was fill- 
ed with the sublime conception of a spherical and 
poised world. Isabelhi of Spain at length gave him 
the means for entering upon his great voyage ; and, 
committing himself to the guidance of Him who made 
the sea, he called up from the midst of the wide wa- 
ters this continent, and presented it to civilized man. 
Full of mingled anxiety and hope — contending with 
the fears of the weak, and the opposing counsels of 
the ignorant, who began to niLu-mur that they Avere 
about to be sacrificed to the wild dream of an ambi- 
tious adventurer — compelled to keep two reckonings 
of his voyage, the true one privately, lest his crew 
should discover the progress they were making in un- 
known seas — perplexed himself at observing, for the 
first time, the variation of the needle, as if he were 
passing away from the ordinary la^v^s of the physical 



358 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

world, that bold navigator still spread his canvas 
Avith a steady hand, and kept on his course. 

By the 10th of October the consternation of his 
crew rose so high that they could hardly be restrain- 
ed from breaking forth into open mutiny. They ex- 
claimed against him as a reckless adventurer, sweep- 
ing into the dangers of a boundless sea, and bearing 
them to a returnless distance from the shores of Eu- 
rope. Columbus was unmoved ; he trod the deck 
with a firm step, and his eye swept the horizon. The 
very next day after quelling his insurgent crew, when 
the evening praj^er was over, he ordered a careful 
look-out for land, and remained himself till a late 
hour on the high deck of his vessel. He fancied that 
he saw lands and lights. Was it an illusion, or was 
a Avorld heretofore unknown about to rise upon his 
vision? At two o"'clock in the morning, a gun was 
fired from the foremost ship as a signal that land was 
seen. That gun announced to the world the discov- 
ery of a continent. 

The discovery was made at the onght time. Until 
that hour, this continent had been kept hid away 
from the Old World. Parts of Asia, Africa, and 
Europe were known to the ancients, and modern na- 
tions had spread themselves over those continents. 
The time had come, in the order of Providence, for 
brinsrino; America to the view of the civilized world. 
Great inventions and im2)rovements in the arts had 
just been disclosed, and a grand event in the moral 
world was at hand when this new and vast continent 
rose up before Euroj)e. Nine years before its discov- 
ery, Martin Luther was born. Thus the world saw 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 359 

a new continent brought to light at the very time 
when the enfranchisement of mind began. Who can 
measure the extent of the influence which these two 
events, the birth of Martin Luther and the discovery 
of America, have exerted upon the human race ? The 
vast extent of America afforded a place of refuge for 
the persecuted advocates of civil and religious liberty. 
Sheltered within its deep Avildernesses, they could wor- 
ship God, and they cultivated the great principles 
which afterward found so glorious a development in 
the Kevolution which emancipated the colonies plant- 
ed by Great Britain, and gave a new impulse to the 
cause of human liberty throughout the whole world. 

In spreading out the map of the Avorld, we observe 
that it is divided into certain gTcat parts. Of these, 
the American continent is one, and it is set apart 
from the other portions of the earth by oceans. Prov- 
idence has given to us the fairest jDortion of the north- 
ern division of this great continent. Our inheritance 
stretches through the temperate zone, and is bounded 
by the two great oceans of the world. Our grant is 
like that of the patriarch : "Lift up, now, thine eyes, 
and look from the place where thou art, northward 
and southward, and eastward and westward ; for all 
the land Avhich thou seest, to thee will I give it, and 
to thy seed forever." 

Flying from intolerance and persecution for the re- 
ligious and political opinions which they held, men 
who comprehended and loved liberty sought in the 
undisturbed forests of North America a refuge and an 
abode. England sent out colonies, and they brought 
with them the high qualities of the race which has 



360 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

led the way in spreading the great j^rinciple of free- 
dom — freedom in religion and freedom in government 
— over the world ; a race which has converted an isl- 
and, which formed the remotest outpost of Roman 
conquests, into the seat of an empire more extensive 
than that of Rome in its proudest days ; which has 
not only belted the globe Avith its fortresses, and sent 
its flag into all the seas of the earth, but whose mil- 
itary glory and maritime power, surpassing as they do 
any thing which the ancient or modern world ever 
beheld, are less objects of our admiration than that 
high civilization which they serve to diffuse. These 
states grew up out of colonies planted by a Protestant 
free people. Their Avhole history may be written in 
a single sentence : they were settled by Englishmen 
and Protestants. An attempt, on the j)art of En- 
gland, to disregard, in the government of the colonies, 
the principles which were so much prized at home, 
excited resistance. Blood was shed ; battles were 
fought ; a revolution was organized ; independence 
was declared ; and the earnest men who proclaimed 
it, pledging to each other their lives, their fortunes, 
and their sacred honor, fought through the protracted 
war which followed and established it. Then came 
the task of forming a government. Separated from 
the systems of the Old World by the Atlantic — con- 
scious of their responsibility — profoundly acquainted 
with the events of history, and with its ancient and 
modern illustrations all before their eyes, the men 
Avho undertook the task of erecting a new government 
brought to it the noblest qualities. They presented 
a sublime spectacle. History describes upon none 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 361 

of its pages such a scene. Other governments had 
grown up under circumstances whose imperious press- 
ure gave them their peculiar forms, and they had 
been modified, from time to time, to keep pace with 
an advancing civilization ; but here was a govern- 
ment created by men emancipated from all foreign in- 
fluence, and who, in their deliberations, acknowledged 
no supreme authority but that of God. States, al- 
ready republican and independent, were formed into 
a confederation, and the great principles of the gov- 
ernment Avere embodied in a Constitution. The 
Union then established has ever since existed. Un- 
der its protection, we have grown from weakness to 
strength. Our wealth, our population, and our pow- 
er have steadily advanced ; and to-day we hold an un- 
disputed empire over a territory stretching from the 
St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico ; and the sparse 
population which, when the government was formed, 
fringed the Atlantic coast, has sj^read itself westward, 
the Kocky Mountains have been passed, and the laws, 
the letters, the traditions, and the religion of the col- 
onists are seated upon the shores of the Pacific. Our 
progress has more than transcended that of the fabled 
god of the ancients, Avho, beginning his morning jour- 
ney in the east, drove his flaming chariot through the 
sky, until he dij^ped his glowing axle in the western 
waves. Behind us have sprung up all the blessings 
of a high civilization ; nor will they disappear be- 
neath the waves of that placid ocean which we have 
reached in our march. There they Avill grow and 
flourish, and their kindling lustre will spread over 
the Polynesian Islands, and gild the distant shores of 



362 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

Asia with a richer and purer splendor than they have 
ever enjoyed before. In thus glancing at the history 
of our government, we do not go back to a fabulous 
antiquity ; we do not trace its origin to an age cov- 
ered with mists and shadows ; we seek no Egerian 
cave to find its source ; no early barbarian usages mix 
themselves with its principles. The clear light of day 
rests upon it. We know the men who formed it ; we 
grasp the Constitution which they gave us. 

I purpose at this time to consider the relations be- 
tween the government and the people of the United 
States ; to inquire into the rights which the republic 
guarantees to the citizen, and the duty which the cit- 
izen owes to the republic. 

The great principle which lies at the foundation of 
the government of the United States is that which 
declares the people to be the source of all political 
power. This doctrine is unknown in systems where 
the supreme authority is in the hands of a monarch. 
In the most liberal monarchies, concessions which 
could no longer be safely withheld have been reluct- 
antly granted to the jDcople. The power of the 
crown resists the power of the masses. All power 
Avhich has not been expressly granted away belongs 
to the sovereign ; but, in our system, the precise re- 
verse of this is the true doctrine ; the supreme pow- 
er belongs to the people, and they have created and 
defined the restraints upon popular liberty. The 
structure of our political system is peculiar — the 
world, in its whole history, does not furnish a single 
parallel. Sovereign and independent states are united 
in a confederacy which wields a few great poAvers af- 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 363 

fecting both our foreign and domestic relations, while 
the state governments, or the people themselves, hold 
the entire authority, which has not been conferred 
upon the federal government,^ This arrangement 
provides every safeguard for personal liberty, while 
it secures national strength. These states are not 
what Montesquieu styles "an assemblage of societies" 
allied for certain general purposes ; they have estab- 
lished a government invested with sovereign power 
for the full exercise of the functions conferred upon 
it. But our political system is not a consolidated 
one, confiding all power to the general government. 
As a despotism is the simplest of all forms of gov- 
ernment, conferring absolute power upon a single in- 
dividual, ours is the most complex of all forms, sub- 
dividing, balancing, and checking the powers vested 
in its several parts. Alexander Hamilton, " durum 
et venerabile nome??," has sketched the character of 
our government in that clear and philosophical style 
for which he Avas so distinguished ; and I quote him 
the more freely, for he will not be suspected of con- 
ceding too much to the doctrine of state sovereignty: 
"An entire consolidation of the states into one com- 
plete national sovereignty would imply an entire sub- 
ordination of the parts, and whatever powers might 
remain in them would be altogether dependent on the 
general will. But, as the plan of the Convention 
aims only at a ^^ar^za/ union or consolidation, the 
state governments would clearly retain all the rights 
of sovereignty which they before had, and which were 
not, by that act, exclusively delegated to the United 
States, This exclusive delegation, or, rather, aliena- 



364 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

tion, of state sovereignty would only exist in three 
cases — where the Constitution in express terms grant- 
ed an exclusive authority to the Union ; where it 
granted, in one instance, an authority to the Union, 
and, in another, j^rohibited the states from exercising 
the like authority ; and where it granted an author- 
ity to the Union to which a similar authority in the 
states would be absolutely and totally contradictory 
wid repugnant " 

Here, then, it will be j^erceived, are some of the 
peculiarities of our j^olitical system : a federal gov- 
ernment is created, its powers are defined and limit- 
ed, and, as it possesses no inherent authority, it de- 
rives all which belongs to it from grants expressly 
naade to it. The tenth article of the amendments to 
the Constitution is in these Avords : "The jDOAvers 
not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 
to the states respectively, or to the people." 

Our government rests upon the Constitution ; that 
is supreme — it binds the states- — it restrains the peo- 
ple — it controls Congress — it limits the authority of 
the executive. This is the grand feature in our in- 
stitutions — all power which the j^eople have consent- 
ed to delegate is clearly defined in the Constitution. 
The people are the source of power, but the people 
do not administer the government. The popular 
will is only to control the action of the government 
so far as it may make itself felt through the forms 
which the Constitution has prescribed. Here we rec- 
ognize the broad distinction between a republic and 
a simple democracy. In a republic like our o^vn. 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 365 

where the rej^resentative principle is adopted, the 
people consent to commit the administration of pub- 
lic affairs to certain magistrates, chosen by them- 
selves, in accordance with the supreme laws. In a 
democracy, such as history exhibits as existing for- 
merly in Greece, the people are the government. 
Liberty, in such a state, is always in danger ; it has 
no ramparts for its protection against the wildest 
passions of the multitude. It has been well said, 
"The ancient democracies, in which the people them- 
selves deliberated, never possessed one feature of good 
government ; their very character was tyranny, their 
figure deformity." The Constitution — not the will 
of a majority — is the supreme law of the United 
States. A more disastrous political condition could 
not be imagined than that to which we should be ex- 
posed if the restraints which the Constitution imposes 
were withdrawn. The wildness of party, the mad- 
ness of fanaticism, the selfishness of sections, aided 
by powerful geographical combinations, would be 
brought to bear upon the legislation of Congress. 
Against these evils we are protected by the clear def- 
inition of the powers of the several departments of 
the government which we find in that great instru- 
ment whose silent power guides and restrains. Our 
government is one of consent, not force. Like the 
planetary system, it is kept in harmonious action by 
the great law of universal attraction. Yet, while it 
rests so lightly on those whom it protects, it is the 
strongest government on earth. Upon every sea 
where our flag is seen, our power is acknowledged. 
The stars which glitter upon its folds announce to 



366 THE AMERICAN G©VERNMENT. 

the whole world the union of free states — states 
which, in their very infancy, cast off the dominion of 
the most formidable power on the globe — states 
which are growing beyond all example in numbers 
and resources — states which already surpass every 
other nation in all the elements of a high civilization, 
and which promise to realize, in the future which 
opens before them, the noblest hopes which the 
friends of mankind have ever dared to indulge. Let 
this Union stand through all the cycles of coming 
time. Then will our country fulfill the noble pro- 
phetic description of Archbishop Cranmer : 

"Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, 
Her honor and the greatness of her name 
Shall be, and make new nations ; she shall flourish, 
And, like a mountain cedar, reach her branches 
To all the plains about her. 
Our children's children shall see this, 
And bless Heaven." 

In glancing at the relation which the American 
citizen bears to his government, we must not overlook 
the great fact that the civil liberty which he enjoys 
is not dependent upon the character and disposition 
of those who may happen to be in power, but is pro- 
tected by muniments which can not be borne down, 
and which guarantee to him the undisturbed posses- 
sion of his noble inheritance through every change 
of administration. An absolute monarch, of liberal 
views and amiable temper, may administer his gov- 
ernment for the good of his subjects, but the nature 
of the government affords them no security against 
tyranny under some future ruler. There is no polit- 
ical truth in the celebrated lines of a great English 
poet, Pope — 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 367 

" For forms of government let fools contest ; 
Whate'er is best administered is best." 

Every j^eople who comprehend liberty will set up 
barriers for its protection against the encroachments 
of despotic power, and their value has been illustrated 
in every generation since the barons of England, at 
Runnpnede, wrested from John the Great Charter. 

The gi-eat fundamental principle of our institu- 
tions, which declares the people to be the source of 
power, at the same time opens to all the avenues to 
distinction and office. Poverty and humble birth 
are no obstacles in the way of worth and talents. In 
Rome, Cincinnatus was called from his plow to the 
supreme power, and in America the humblest citizen 
may be elevated to the highest station. In the great 
contests of life, a very large proportion of our most 
eminent men have risen to distinction from humble 
families. Truth, manliness, uprightness, and energy 
are the great qualities which make themselves felt in 
our institutions. It is a beautiful illustration of 
their power to stimulate exertion and encourage 
merit, to see one who owes nothing to birth rising 
from his humble fortunes to the highest trusts and 
the noblest stations of the republic, asserting his 
claims to distinction without the aid of heraldry, and 
by his own great qualities vindicating his right to the 
honors of his country. We confer neither stars, nor 
garters, nor ribbons ; but we do confer the noblest 
earthly reward which can be realized, next to our 
o^vn consciousness of having done well, in giving to 
those who have served their country faithfully the 
unbought thanks of millions of freemen. It is theirs 



368 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

" The applause of listening senates to command, 
The threats of pain and ruin to despise — 
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 

And read their history in a nation's eyes." 

The American citizen enjoys the unrestricted right 
of worshiping God in any form that he may prefer. 
In the beautiful language of the prophet, "We sit 
every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, and 
none make us afraid. " Here every creed is tolerated, 
and religion invites into her temples every sect. They 
worship side by side, as in the ancient encampment 
of Israel, each tribe distinguished by its own banner, 
but every tribe looking up to the living God for guid- 
ance and protection. Liberty of conscience is ours 
in the broadest sense, and it is a liberty precious be- 
yond description. Who shall attemjDt to fix its val- 
ue ? Let the noble army of martyrs rise up and say 
Avhat it is worth. Let those who died in the battles 
fought to maintain it answer. Let the victims of the 
dungeon and the Inquisition come up and say what 
it is, before we write it doivn as a small thing. Let 
the ship's company, Avho, with the Bible in their hands, 
ventured in the frail Ma}^flower across a Avide and 
stormy sea, and, escaping from persecutions on land 
and dangers on the deep, stood cold and faint upon 
the shores of a wide unknown world, come up and 
speak to us. We can almost hear their solemn ap- 
peals to us to guard Avell this gi^eat right. By the 
memory of the past — by all that we hold dear now 
— by the glorious hopes of the future, we pledge our- 
selves to be faithful to the great trust. 

After this rapid survey of the rights which the re- 
public confers upon its citizens, I purpose to inquire 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 369 

for a moment into the duties which the citizen owes 
to the republic. The right of self-government de- 
volves upon those who enjoy it the duty of studying 
the character of their institutions. Where every one 
exercises the lofty privilege of deciding by his vote 
what laws shall govern his country, and what magis- 
trates shall administer them, he owes it to himself, to 
his children, to his country, and,«I may say, to man- 
kind, to study and to comprehend the questions which 
affect the great interests committed, in some degree, 
to his keej^ing. Under our government, ignorance 
is crime. Of all knowledge it may be said, in a good 
sense, "its entrance giveth light." Let it be sj)read 
among the people — ^let it be sent to the laborer where 
he is toiling in the fields — let it cheer the artisan in 
his daily industry — let it light the home of every man 
as he enters it in the evening, and gild it, however 
humble it may be, and the country is safe. We all 
owe a duty to our race ; "no man liveth to himself," 
Selfishness has no place in a popular government like 
ours. Every word of truth that is uttered helj)s the 
cause of mankind ; every great thought strengthens 
good government. Nothing that is good is lost ; its 
immortality is sure ; the vibrations of sound, we are 
informed, do not cease at the lips of the sj^eaker, but 
spread themselves through the air until they encircle 
the globe ; and thus the voice of truth swells with in- 
•creasing volume as its witnesses continue to plead in 
its behalf, until its tones shake the earth, and find an 
echo in heaven. Every citizen of the United States 
feels }'imself invested Avith the majesty of freedom ; 
his voice is heard in the councils of the nation, his 

Aa 



370 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

vote decides the measures of the government. Ought 
he not to be enlightened ? 

In a free government there must always be parties, 
and there should be. It has been said that " eternal 
vigilance is the price of liberty ;" and nothing so stim- 
ulates vigilance as the conflicting opinions of parties. 
But we should ever remember that the claims of our 
country are above the claims of party. So far from 
lending ourselves to schemes which threaten the pros- 
perity, the safety, or the glory of the nation, we should 
not hesitate to arrest them, nor to plant ourselves in 
opposition even to our political associates when they 
seek to promote them. At such times, we ought 
with true courage to speak out, and to put every 
thins: at stake for the cause of truth. A more hu- 
miliating spectacle is never exhibited than that which 
we see in a man endowed with great parts Avho loses 
sight of noble objects, and sacrifices to party faculties 
which God gave for the good of mankind. Nor can 
we withhold our admiration from the statesman who 
has the courage to breast the current when it rolls 
about him deep and strong. Such men are like isl- 
ands in great streams, covered for a time with mire 
and the confused deposit of the turbid waters ; this 
only serves to increase their fertility, and the rich and 
lofty gro^vth which is produced upon such soil at once 
attests their strength, and enables them to resist the 
violence of a current which, without such obstacles, 
might only carry destruction in its course. A party, 
in the best sense of the word, is a great political body, 
holding liberal sentiments and aiming at patriotic 
objects. Such a body is entitled to respect; but a 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 371 

faction^ whatever may be its numbers, is contempt- 
ible. 

The American citizen should never forget that all 
questions which come up in the action of the govern- 
ment are to be settled by the moral power of public 
sentiment. In our system there is no room for vio- 
lence. The majesty of the law is ever 23resent, silent 
but mighty. Every means of controlling public sen- 
timent may be employed ; opinion may find utterance 
in every shape ; the press is free ; popular meetings 
may assemble in any number — all that can be accom- 
plished by persuasion, by appeals the most energetic, 
by all the instrumentalities of moral power, may be 
brought to boar upon political questions. But force, 
brute force, is never to be thought of. So far the 
history of our government has nobly vindicated the 
principles of the government. It was not to be sup- 
posed that a grand popular system like our own 
could o-o forward without encounterino; some obstruc- 
tions — shocks; convulsions Avere to be expected; but 
these have so far served only to demonstrate its 
strength. The popular enthusiasm has sometimes 
risen high ; the contending surges of public opinion 
have dashed against the Constitution ; the noise of 
the waves and the tumult of the people, thundering 
against the barriers of law, have threatened to break 
beyond all bounds ; but when the great question 
which called up the commotion has been decided, 
what a calm has succeeded ! How soon has tranquil- 
lity oversj)read the whole surface Avhich was so lately 
agitated ! The ocean sometimes e xhibits a scene of 
wild sublimity. This great highway of nations, de- 



372 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

signed to enable the inhabitants of widely-separated 
climes to hold intercourse with each other, is some- 
times seen in majestic repose, whitened with the sails 
of a busy commerce ; but when swept with storms, 
and the resounding waves threaten to swalloAV navi- 
gation up, the scattered fleet, with rent sails, is seen 
flying before the fury of the tempest, and to the eye 
of the mariner the sea presents but a wide picture of 
hopeless confusion and terror. Yet, when the serene 
sky and tranquil deep once more return, the seaman 
spreads the adventurous canvas over his dismasted 
shij^, and the sea-bird stretches his wings over the 
subsiding billows. 

The character of the American government must 
be what the character of the American people is ; it 
is idle to hope for any great elevation in the one, un- 
less the other be enlightened and pure. I can not 
forbear here to borrow the language of the noble ode 
of Sir William Jones : 

" "Wliat constitutes a state T 
Not high-raised battlements or labored mound, 

Thick wall, or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crown'd ; 

Not bays and broad-arm'd ports, 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts. 
Where low-brow'd baseness wafts perfume to pride. 
No ; men — high-minded men — 

******* 

These constitute a state ; 
And sovereign law, that state's collected will, 
High over thrones and globes elate. 
Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill." 

The American statesman owes a high duty to his 
country. Relying, as he must do, for success on pojD- 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 6i6 

ular support, there is throughout his career a power- 
ful tem^otation to betray his trust — to surrender his 
independence to the will of others — to court favor by 
yielding up his own convictions to the voice of the 
multitude. This temptation he must resist; manli- 
ness and a steady adherence to truth, whether in fa- 
vor or out of favor, must mark the course of every 
man who will not lose his own respect. Popularity 
may be bought at too high a price. Who can with- 
hold his admiration from the sentiments of an emi- 
nent English judge, uttered in the midst of a fierce 
popular excitement 1 " It is true," said Lord Mans- 
field, "I love popularity, but it is that popularity 
which follows, not that which is run after ; the pop- 
ularity Avhich, sooner or later, is sure to crown the 
pursuit of noble ends by noble means." 

If there be one quality Avhich the statesmen of our 
country at the present time ought to cultivate above 
all others, it is independence ; not a defiance of the 
ascertained will of the people, but a manly, steady ad- 
herence to principle through good report and evil re- 
port ; a stout defense of right through sunshine and 
through storm ; holding the lofty ground of truth 
against all assailants. This independence every man 
should cultivate who aspires to serve his country. 

What nobler spectacle can be looked upon than 
that which is exhibited by a statesman who plants 
himself in defense of a great principle, and coura- 
geously meets its assailants, as Prince James did 
when he saw the rising band of Roderick Dhu gath- 
ering about him, and in proud indignation exclaims 
with him, 



374 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

" Come one, come all , this rock shall fly 
From its firm base as soon as I !" 

History, the chronicler of the past, has preserved 
for the undying veneration of mankind the names of 
those who, in the midst of scenes that try men, have 
risen above the influence of objects Avhich would have 
been controlling with inferior souls. Out of the il- 
lustrious annals of ancient and modern times, we shall 
select but two examples : 

Gustavus Adolphus, called while yet a young prince 
to lead the forces of the Protestant League, when 
sceptred monarchs combined to persecute and hunt 
down those who threw off the authority of the Church 
of Rome, invaded Germany, declaring in advance that 
the single object Avhich led him to march into the ter- 
ritory of another prince was to vindicate the right of 
conscience in the great matter of religion. He met 
and drove before him the ablest generals who could 
be found to oppose him ; even Tilly, at the head of 
the imperial army, could not stand before him. The 
Emperor Ferdinand, alarmed at his impetuous and 
restless advance, sent to him proposals for peace; 
he was ready to grant him the greatest personal ad- 
vantages ; he offered to add Pomerania to his pos- 
sessions; but Gustavus Adolphus replied that he 
had invaded Germany, not for his o^vn aggrandize- 
ment, but for the protection of his fellow-Protest- 
ants. Nobly refusing to listen to any terms but 
such as would secure to them the rights of conscience, 
he gave up his life for the great cause which he had 
espoused; he opened his last battle joining those 
about him in singing one of Luther's h}Tmns; his 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 375 

fearless exposure of his person was fatal to him, and, 
falling under the banner which he had borne with 
such self-sacrificing ardor, the very indignation which 
his troops felt in seeing such a leader slain won a 
brilliant victory for the Protestant cause. 

But oui' own country has exhibited the noblest 
example of rare and great qualities in the person of 
Washington. Look upon his picture, and you are 
ready to exclaim with Hamlet, 

" See what a grace was seated on this brow : 
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself; 
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command ; 
A station like the herald Mercury, 
New-lighted on a hea%'en-kissing hill ; 
A combination, and a form, indeed, 
' WTiere every god did seem to set his seal, 

To give the w-orld assurance of a man." 

His qualities were indeed rare and great. The 
darkest day that frowned upon the fortunes of his 
country found him as steady in its support as the 
brightest — firm in the presence of danger — undis- 
mayed by reverses — full of resources when over- 
whelmed by numbers — moderate in the moment of 
victory. 

Called to administer a government whose existence 
beo;an amid the miso-ivinofs of friends and the confi- 

O CO 

dent j)rediction of failure on the part of enemies, he 
conducted it with such signal wisdom and such pat- 
riotic fidelity that distrust at home gave j)lace to con- 
fidence, and the world saw with wonder a great re- 
public display its grand proportions on the Continent 
of America. Relinquishing with real satisfaction 
the power which he had consented to hold, and which 
he had wielded for the good of his country, unbiased 



376 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

by a single selfish consideration, he withdrew to the 
home which he so much loved. There, upon the 
banks of the Potomac, he engaged in the simple and 
unambitious agricultm'al pursuits which gave him so 
much pleasure, shedding about him a serene light, 
until he sank in death like the sun dropping his disk 
behind a world-wide horizon. A noble self-control 
and a sublime sense of duty were manifested in his 
whole life. The ordinary objects of ambition were 
in his eyes little and mean. Compare him for a sin- 
gle moment with the Macedonian conqueror, who 
gave himself up to unbounded lust of conquest, and, 
standing on the verge of his dominions, wept that 
there were no other worlds within reach of his arms ; 
or with CaBsar, who, yielding to that infirmity of no- 
ble minds, the love of power, fell in the very senate- 
chamber under the avenging dagger of Brutus ; or 
with Napoleon, whose brilliant but desolating career 
was checked at the moment when he had achieved 
his highest triumph, and he who had kept the na- 
tions in awe was sent a prisoner to an island far from 
every field of his glory, and where the dashing billows 
of the ever-heavino; sea mocked the surges of his own 
passions, and how immeasurably above them all does 
Washington stand out in the clear light of immor- 
tality! American as he was, his fame is regarded as 
the inheritance of the human race. * Duty, the faith- 
ful performance of every task to which he was called 
' — this was the gi'eat aim of Washington's life. Pre- 
cious be his memory ! Our country gave him birth 
■ — our country holds his ashes, and we would not ex- 
change that sunple tomb at Mount Vernon for the 



THE AMEHICAN GOVERNMENT. 377 

monumental marble of all the world besides. By liis 
great example let the American statesman form his 
own character, and by a faithful discharge of every 
duty to his country, prove himself worthy to be a 
countryman of Washington. 

The republic confers itpon the citizen the noblest 
privileges, and he owes to it the highest duties. In 
the immortal oration of Cicero against Verres, he de- 
scribes with indignation the violation, on the part of 
the praetor, of the rights of a Roman citizen — a name 
which brought up at once the majesty of Roman law. 
The humblest citizen of the United States may claim 
a prouder name and invoke a nobler law. The re- 
public should find in him a spirit ready to serve it, 
willing, if need be, to die for it. He should be pre- 
pared at all times to uphold its authority. As our 
government is not one of force, but of consent, it ex- 
pects from all its citizens a ready obedience to laAv. 
The Constitution is the strength of the government 
and the bulwark of personal liberty ; it must be up- 
held. He Mdio violates it is false to his country, to 
himself, and to liis race. It can only be preserved 
by cultivating a profound regard for its spirit. A 
latitudinarian construction is as fatal to it as open 
violence ; it is but a choice between poison and the 
sword. Some of the difficulties which are experi- 
enced in administering the government arise from its 
complex character. To the general government cer- 
tain enumerated powers have been committed; these, 
upon a fair construction, are to be employed in good 
faith for the general welfare : the states have reserved 
great rights ; these are to be sacredly observed. We 



378 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

are exposed to two dangers — centralization, disunion. 
The general government, by transcending its author- 
ity, may grow up into a colossal overshadowing 
power ; the rights of the states may be disregarded ; 
legislation may be corrupted, and Congress, yielding 
to a system of unscrupulous plunder, may employ its 
functions to enrich one section of the Union at the 
expense of the other. If so, the government, created 
with limited powers, resting upon compromises, and 
designed to advance the welfare of these states, will 
grow up into a vast consolidated empire, under whose 
shadow liberty will perish. Or dissensions may 
spring up, alienations may ensue, and a republic 
composed of states inheriting the great principles of 
liberty from an ancestry who comprehended their 
priceless value, inheriting traditions the most glori- 
ous, wielding a power greater than that of Home in 
its palmiest days, securing to the citizen at home the 
fullest enjoyment of civil liberty, and spreading a 
flag for the protection of his person and property, 
whose sanctity is respected wherever it is seen in 
■every part of the world — this republic, the noblest 
example of a free state upon which the sun ever 
turned his burning vision, may be broken asunder, 
and the states, which to-day exhibit such a wide pic- 
ture of peace and prosperity, may be plunged into 
wars desolating, bloody, and hopeless. We must 
stand by the Constitution ; it is the great work upon 
which the government rests ; at its base the wildest 
billows break harmlessly, and the proudest hostile 
armaments, wrecked and shattered, will be but tro- 
phies recording its power and its glory. 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 379 

The history of the republics of antiquity sometimes 
awakens the apprehension that our system can not 
endure. But, leaving out of view the structural dif- 
ference between those governments and oiu- own — a 
difference upon which we will not farther dwell at 
this moment than to say that, in the great states 
which extended their power beyond their original 
limits, the dominion was spread by conquests, while 
the extension of oiu* power has been a natural and 
spontaneous growth ; our people have spread them- 
selves over our wide domain, bearing with them the 
arts of peace, and planting the institutions of the 
country as firmly on the shores of the distant Pa- 
cific as they were originally planted upon the shores 
of the Atlantic — leaving this out of view, and not 
staying to point out another feature peculiar to our 
government, that of a confederation of states, we 
possess a conservative element wholly unknown to 
them, the Christian religion. This binds, elevates, 
enlightens, and purifies our Avhole system. The fram- 
ers of our government Avisely determined to establish 
no political connection between Church and state, but 
yet Christianity was recognized in every department 
of our government. All who hold the offices of the 
country are called on, before undertaking their trusts, 
to bind themselves, by the awful sanctions revealed in 
the Word of God, to support the Constitution of the 
United States. Who can measure the extent of the 
influence which the religion of Jesus Christ exerts 
over the sentiments of the American people ? The 
spread of religion strengthens the government. 
Christianity is opposed to tyranny in every form; it 



380 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

addresses our race without reference to birth, or for- 
tune, or latitude, or climate, and it exalts the Avhole 
family of man into a great brotherhood. An emi- 
nent man of our own country, the late Mr. Grimke, 
of South Carolina, says "that the New Testament is 
the only genuine moral constitution of society, and 
its principles the only safe and wise foundation of 
civil and political institutions." 

When the Convention sitting to form the Consti- 
tution found itself, after four or five weeks' consulta- 
tion, perplexed, having searched ancient history for 
models, and viewed modern states all over Europe 
without being able to find any thing suitable to the 
circumstances of our country, Franklin proposed to 
make a humble application to the Father of lights for 
illumination, saying that the longer he lived the more 
convinced he was of the truth ' ' that God governs in 
the affairs of men ; and if a sparrow can not fall to 
the ground witliout his notice, is it probable an em- 
pire can rise without his aid?" Tlie proposition pre- 
vailed, and the Convention reached, under the divine 
guidance, that fortunate termination of its labors 
which history records. Washington habitually em- 
ployed divine guidance, and in his Farewell Address 
to his countrymen he left it as his solemnly-recorded 
sentiment that morality is essential to the success of 
the government, and that morality can not exist with- 
out religion for its basis. Let us revere the Christian 
system as essential to our temporal j^rosperity and to 
our immortal hopes. If the American people, com- 
prehending in this spirit the rights which the repub- 
lic confers on them and the duties which they owe to 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 381 

the republic, i^rove faithful to their great trust, the 
illimitable future which opens upon our country will 
be glorious. It will exhibit a picture of power, of 
grandeur, and of freedom far transcending any which 
the world has yet produced; we shall realize the no- 
ble vision which filled the mind of an English writer: 
"The possible destiny of the United States of Amer- 
ica, as a nation of two huncbed millions of freemen, 
stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, livins" 
under the laws of Alfred, and speaking the language 
of Shakspeare and Milton, is an august conception." 
Let us be true to ourselves ; let us preserve the Un- 
ion, and we need not yield to the apprehensions which 
some express that our political system, so new and 
complex, will encounter the disasters which have 
overthrown the republics of antiquity. These gloomy 
predictions, uttered by those who see so many clouds 
resting on the future, and who have no faith in the 
stability of human institutions, may Avell be disre- 
garded while we turn to the beautiful and philosoph- 
ical remark of Edmund Burke, which occurs in one 
of his letters on a regicide peace. 

"I am not of the mind of those speculators who 
seem assured that all states have the same j^eriods of 
infancy, manhood, and decrepitude that are found in 
individuals. Parables of this sort rather furnish 
similitudes to illustrate or adorn than to supply an- 
alogies from which to reason. Individuals are phys- 
ical beings; commonwealths are not physical, but 
moral essences. " 

We are yet in the freshness of our youth ; our 
countr}', the latest born of the great nations, is like 



382 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

the youngest daughter of King Lear, the fau'est of 
the sisters : 

" Ah ! mayst thou ever be what now thou art, 
Nor unbeseem the promise of thy spring." 

The horoscope which shone so resplendently over 
thy birtli, O my country, announced a glorious desti- 
ny. This day witnesses its grand fulfiUment. Berke- 
ley's vision, revealed in poetic measures, is fully real- 
ized — 

" Time's noblest offspring is the last." 

A powerful nation, in the full vigor of her youth, 
unfurls the banner of freedom, and its mighty folds 
float over a continent ; thrown out at first against a 
stormy sky, and in defiance of tyrants, it is bathed 
to-day in the light of peace ; the eyes of all mankind 
are fixed upon it as the sign of hope. Shall it be 
rent asunder? Shall its stars be quenched and its 
folds droop ? Shall it live in the memory of manr 
kind only as the sign of fallen power and departed 
glory ? No ! No, let it float forever, the standard 
of a republic the proudest, the haj^piest, the greatest 
which the world has ever beheld. 

Let the sun, as he rises out of the Atlantic wave, 
gild it with his morning beam ; let him throw his 
parting splendor upon it as he sinks beneath the 
placid waters of the Pacific, its gorgeous folds still 
streaming: with undiminished lustre over states free, 
powerful and prosperous, associated in a Union as 
indissoluble as it is glorious. 



CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

AN ORATION DELIVERED IN THE REPRESENTATIVES' HALL, BEFORE THE 
LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA AND THE CITIZENS OF TUSCALOOSA, DE- 
CEMBER 7th, 1832. 

The spectacle before us declares that this is an oc- 
casion of no common interest. It is no ordinary 
event which has hushed the hum of business, and 
chilled the active current of life ; which has touched 
the voice of music with sadness ; which has assem- 
bled us by a spontaneous impulse, the aged, and the 
middle-aged, and the young ; which has clothed the 
executive of the state and its whole representation, 
and the various honorable orders among us, with the 
habiliments of mourning. It is not one of those 
events which touches the feelings and speaks to the 
affections of a single heart only, but which calls upon 
a nation to rise up, as one family, and mourn. The 
Angel of Death has touched a chord to which mill- 
ions of hearts vibrate ; we have lost a common fa- 
ther, and, as children of the rejDublic, Ave have come 
up together to do honor to his memory. If ever any 
occasion deserved to be honored with services like 
these, it is the present. For deep and thrilling in- 
terest, and for moral grandeur, it has scarcely a par- 
allel in history. There is at all times something 
touching in the simplest tribute which is laid at the 
grave of virtue. It is a noble and wisely-ordered fac- 
ulty of our natm*e, which forbids us to look with in- 



384 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

difference even upon the frail flower which the soli- 
tary mourner teaches to spring above the humble 
resting-place of one whose memory is precious. This 
feeling has its foundation deep in the human heart. 
Its illustrations are to be found in the humble offer- 
ings of the poor at the shrine of bui'ied worth and 
affection, and in the solemn procession, the deep-toned 
dirge, the voice of eulogy, and the lofty column which 
honor and perpetuate the memory of the great. 

And have we no offerings to present on this day ? 
Shall we suffer this occasion to pass by minoticed, 
or dwell upon it coldly? Not so. Here is every 
thino- to call forth into full and livinsf exercise the 
deepest and pui'est feelings of the heart ; there is 
nothino; to chill the ardor of its best affections about 
the memory of him who has just taken his leave of 
life. We call upon the noble of the earth, the friends 
of man, the lovers of civil liberty throughout the 
world, to s}Tapathize mth us in the scenes of this 
day. The lustre which the life of him Avhom we 
mourn sheds upon his tomb is all pure and stainless. 
The gentle eye of Religion itself may look upon it 
mthout a tear. Truth and Virtue meet above it and 
embrace each other. His glory was not gathered on 
the red battle-field ; he went not forth, with waving 
banners and flashing steel, to erect the temple of his 
fame amid the ruins of depopulated cities and deso- 
lated lands. His conquests were "s^Tought out by the 
mind, and the monuments which mark them are cov- 
ered all over with an intellectual and moral glory. 

The history of his success is to be found in the ad- 
vancement of the gTcat interests of the human fam- 



CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTOX. 385 

ily. When the marble -w^hich lifts its front to declare 
the glory of the conqueror shall be crumbling into 
very dust, the memory of the patriot, the philanthro- 
pist, and statesman shall Ijeam like a star in heaven, 
blessing the eye of the beholder throughout all time 
with its mild but undying lustre. It becomes us, 
then, to remember and lionor the worth of Carroll. 
To obey this impulse of nature is both just and wise. 
To cherish the memory of the great and the good is 
alike honorable to the departed and profitable to the 
living. While we wreathe the garland of affection 
over the dark portal of the tomb, we furnish to the 
surviving the strongest incitement to glory. On this 
occasion, what a crowd of recollections press upon the 
heart, and with what mingled emotions do we dis- 
charge this sacred duty ! AVe call up the turbulent, 
stormy period of olu* country's history ; we see before 
us that noble company, who, pledging every thing 
valuable and dear in the cause of their native land, 
and trusting to the strength and justice of omnipo- 
tent truth, felt that they were "good against the 
world in arms." We ask ourselves, "Where are 
they?" and a voice from the tomb answers us, "Where 
are theyf They have fallen into the sleep that 
knows no waking. We seek for them among the 
walks of men, but we find them not ; the places which 
once knew them kno^\' them no more forever. They 
have passed into the world of spirits. All, all are 
ofone. He, the latest lin^erinnr survivor of that acre, 
has just bid us a long farewell ; Charles Carroll, of 
Carrollton, is no more ! 

He Avho lately stood among us like some ancient 

Bb 



386 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

ruin, grand even amid its decay, bearing itself up 
proudly under the ravages of time, a noble monument 
of an age gone by, is at last leveled with the dust. 
But we have not come up here to mourn with bitter- 
ness. He had lived far beyond the ordinary allot- 
ment of nature ; we would not recall him from his 
rest. 

After a long life of good deeds, surrounded with 
blessings, in the bosom of a great and happy family, 
he has gathered up his feet in peace, and gone to his 
fathers. You have looked upon the sun when he 
cometh forth in the east, rejoicing in kingly splendor, 
and traveling in the greatness of his strength, and 
pouring his flood of glorious golden light upon the 
earth throughout a long summer s day. You have 
seen him as, his journey accomplished, he drops his 
broad disk behind the hills of the west. "What a 
majesty is there in his leave-taking, as his broad beam 
streams athwart hill and dale, and mountain and val- 
ley, spreading out over the forest a sheet of gold, 
touching the tall spire Avith inimitable lustre, and 
lighting the firmament into a blaze of glory, as he 
draws around him the robes of his splendor ! So 
calm, so pure, so bright Avas the closing hour of Car- 
roll's long earthly day. 

Let us revert to some of those scenes which have 
marked his life with interest. 

Apart from the individual greatness of his charac- 
ter, his connection with some of the most remarkable 
events in our national history would be sufficient to 
make him illustrious. Were his life barren of inci- 
dent ; had there been no other act to rise up from its 



CHARLES CAimOLL, OF CARROLLTON. 387 

calm and even tenor to meet the gaze of the world, 
saving his putting his hand to the Declaration of In- 
dependence, that one act would insure to him immor- 
tality. Who might calculate the extent of danger 
and hazard which hung like an angiy cloud over that 
scene? Who shall estimate the amount of moral 
firmness it required to stake fortune, and reputation, 
and life itself upon the issue 1 Who shall conjecture 
a limit to the influence it has exerted upon the polit- 
ical condition of tlie whole world ? 

We look forth upon the terrible face of battle, 
-yhere nation arms to strive with nation ; we see the 
gorgeous ensigns floating high above the conflicting 
ranks, the waving plumes, the glittering steel; we 
mark the impetuous onset, the sweeping charge ; the 
deep thunder of the cannon comes to us mingled with 
the shouts of men, while, amid the shock of host 
rushing against host, kings themselves turn j^ale with 
fear, and Death revels in the treading down of hu- 
man life. What gives to this scene its deepest inter- 
est, and why does the patriot await the result with 
suspended res2:>iration and pale cheek? Because upon 
the issue hangs the fate of his country. If victory 
light upon his standard, his altar and his fireside are 
safe. What a grandeur, then, gathers about the Dec- 
laration of Independence, regarded in this view, and 
how far, in the importance of its results, does it out- 
strip the scenes of l^attle ! Not the destiny of one 
nation, nor the hopes of one people only hung upon 
it. It cast its influence not upon one age only, but 
the destiny of the world, the entire cause of mankind, 
the interests of generations, these Avere moved at its 



388 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

going forth. To have been an actor in that scene 
entitles one to all praise, and secures to his memory 
ceaseless reorard. 

Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was born in Annap- 
olis, in Maryland, on the 8th of September {O.S.), 
1737. When very young, he was taken to the col- 
lege of English Jesuits at St. Omer's, and entered 
there, where he remained until his fourteenth year, 
when he was removed to a colleofe of French Jesuits 
at Rheims. There he remained but a single year, 
and was again removed to the college of Louis le 
Grand, where the two following years of his life were 
passed. Having employed one year in Bourges (the 
capital of the province of Berry) in the study of the 
civil law, he returned to college at Paris, and there 
continued until his twentieth year, at which time he 
visited London, and, taking apartments in the Tem- 
ple, commenced the study of the law. In 1764, when 
twenty-seven years of age, he returned home. 

These early advantages fitted him for acting in the 
turbulent scenes which then distracted his country. 
The controversy betAveen Great Britain and her col- 
onies had begun to assume an angry aspect. The 
Stamp Act, in 1776, had excited much indignation. 
It had waked up among the people a wholesome 
spirit of investigation ; the relations of the countries 
were examined ; their reciprocal rights and duties 
subjected to inquiry. Among those who were most 
active in distributino; intelliirence was Charles Car- 
roll. He employed his pen ably and successfully un- 
til the offensive act, which had given an impulse to 
the spirit of inquiry, was repealed, and quiet restored 



CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 389 

to the country. About this thne there Avere in Mary- 
land some local topics which excited nuich interest. 
As usual at that period, the contest was between the 
people and their rulers. Mr. Carroll stood with the 
people, and acquired, for an assumed name under 
which he wrote in advocating their rights, great ce- 
lebrity. He is said to have displayed in that contest 
singular firmness and decision, and to have developed 
an intellect of great strength. When this fictitious 
name became identified with Mr. Carroll, it at once 
raised him high in the regards of the people. In all 
their future controversies, they looked up to him as 
an advocate and a leader. 

He is said to have displayed great activity in pro- 
jecting and supporting the measures at that time 
employed in opposing the colonial policy of Great 
Britain. The current of events was assuming a dark, 
turbulent, and angry look. Every power was brought 
by this great man into the service of his own native, 
injured land ; all was hazarded in her behalf 

He was no superficial observer. He looked deep 
into the Inroad and eternal principles of human life. 
He paid no servile homage to power ; his opinions 
were not to be bought with the luxuries, or shackled 
by the strength of kingly authority. He read at 
once the issue of the contest, and, trusting to the 
deathless power of right, he cast himself at once upon 
the tide, ready and willing to abide the result. Let 
us appreciate the nobleness of this conduct — let us 
contemplate and value its greatness. Bred up with- 
in the dominions of kings, educated among a peojjle 
who looked with awe and admiration upon royal 



390 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

splendor, possessing immense wealth, which connect- 
ed him with the noble, the titled, and the powerful, 
he laid his 2i\\freehj upon the altar of his country's 
o-ood. This is no common achievement ; it required 
a lofty spirit and a great mind to accomplish it. By 
some, the course of the colonies was censured ; by 
some, the cause was regarded as hopeless ; while oth- 
ers supposed the excitement and the troubles evanes- 
cent. But Mr. Carroll saw in these early discon- 
tents but the shadows of gTcat events and the begin- 
ning of evil. 

It is reported of him that, in a conversation with 
Mr. Chase, perhaps in 1772, that gentleman remark- 
ed to him, "We have completely -wintten down our 
opponents."' Mr. Carroll's reply illustrates his dis- 
cernment : "And do you think," said he, "that writ- 
ing will settle the question between us ?" " Surely," 
replied Mr. Chase ; ' ' what else can we resort to T 
"The bayonet," was the ansAver. "Our arguments 
will only raise the feelings of the people to that pitch 
when open war Avill be looked for as the mode of set- 
tling the dispute." 

And there is another incident highly creditable 
both to the sagacity and firmness of Mr. Carroll. 
Previous to the commencement of actual hostilities 
some years, Mr. Graves, a member of Parliament, 
wrote to him on the subject of the disturbances in 
America, treating with ridicule the idea of resistance 
on the part of the colonies, and declaring that six 
thousand English soldiers would march from one end 
of the continent to the other. ' ' So they may, " was 
his reply, "but they will be masters of the spot only 



CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 391 

on which they encamp. They will find naught but 
enemies before them and around them. If we are 
beaten on the plains, we will retreat to the mount- 
ains and defy them. Our resources Avill increase 
with our difficulties. Necessity will force us to ex- 
ertion, until, tired of combating in vain against a 
spirit which victory after victory can not subdue, 
your armies will evacuate our soil, and your country 
retire an immense loser from the contest. No, sir, 
we have made up our minds to abide the issue of the 
approaching struggle, and, though nuich blood may 
be spilled, we have no doubt of our ultimate success." 
The ability and spirit which Mr. Carroll had dis- 
played on various occasions obtained for him the con- 
fidence of his countrymen, and caused him to be re- 
garded as one worthy to guide and control in the 
troubled scenes of the time. We could linger with 
much satisfaction over many of the incidents of his 
life about this period, but the occasion permits us to 
present only a fcAv of the more prominent. 

We find Mr. Carroll, in the early part of the year 
1776, an anxious spectator of the proceedings, truly 
momentous, of the General Consress, then sitting in 
Philadelphia. That body, having determined to in- 
vite Canada to join the provinces in resisting Great 
Britain, appointed him a commissioner to proceed, 
in company with Dr. Franklin and Mr. Samuel 
Chase, to that country, and urge the measure. The 
very extensive powers conferred on the commission- 
ers, and the immensely important interests confided 
to their care, illustrate the extent of Mr. Carroll's 
reputation, and the A'alue attached to it. This effort. 



392 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

from a variety of causes quite beyond the control of 
the commissioners, resulted unsuccessfully, and Mr. 
Carroll returned to Philadelphia while the great sub- 
ject of independence was under discussion. The rep- 
resentatives from Maryland had received express in- 
structions from its Convention, held in the latter part 
of the preceding year, to disavow in the most solemn 
manner all design in the colonies of indejDendence. 
These shackles Mr. Carroll regarded as odious, and 
went forthwith to Annapolis, took his seat in the 
Convention, and urged the immediate withdrawal of 
these instructions. Hoav striking is the attitude in 
which we now behold him ! The other colonies on 
the point of declaring themselves free and independ- 
ent, and he urging his native colony not to be out- 
stripped in the career of glory. An hour's delay 
might rivet her fetters, and suffer that tide in her af 
fairs which would lead her on to glorious fortune to 
pass by — to flow no more. His efforts were blessed 
and prevailed, and on the 2d of July, 1776, in the 
language of his biographer, "the delegates of Mary- 
land found themselves authorized to vote for inde- 
pendence !" 

He was now appointed a delegate to Congress, and 
on the eighteenth of July he took his seat. On the 
nineteenth, a resolution was passed directing the Dec- 
laration of Independence to be engrossed on parch- 
ment, that it might be signed by the members. This 
being done, Mr. Carroll was among the earliest who 
affixed their signatures. Let us pause for a moment 
and contemplate that scene. What an assemblage 
is here — how collected — how full of dignity — how 



CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 393 

vast the subject of their deliberations, and what a 
lofty spirit they bring to the investigation ! How 
many would have advised the inglorious part of safety 
and submission. But there are moments when the 
poor counsels of the timid are despised ; when the 
spirit of the patriot lifts itself up, and shaldng from 
around it the shackles which would bind it, and 
turning his glance from the dangers and clouds which 
lower upon the scenes around him, looks into the far 
future, and sees in its brightness and glory a full re- 
ward for his hazards and his toils. 

It is said, when Mr. Hancock asked Mr. Carroll if 
he would sign, he replied, "Most willingly.'" As he 
approached the desk of the secretary and affixed his 
name to the Declaration, some one in the lobby, ap- 
jDrehensive of an unfortunate termination of the con- 
test, and anticipating the confiscation of property 
which must follow, exclaimed, "There goes half a 
million at the dash of a pen!'' But no: "there's a 
Divinity which shapes our ends." True, he risked 
much — more, perhaps, than any other man — but he 
lost nothing. 

Mr. Carroll remained in Congress until 1778, when 
he returned home to give his services to his native 
state, to which he seems to have been deeply attached. 
In the year 1788, however, we find him in the Senate 
of the United States, immediately after the adoption 
of the Federal Constitution. In two years he va- 
cated his seat, and, retiring once more to his native 
state, engaged in local politics until 1801, when his 
public life closed, at the age of sixty-three. 

The remainder of his life was passed in peaceful, 



394 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

and dignified, and haj^py retirement. He enjoyed a 
richer reward than ordinarily falls to the lot of man. 
He lived to see the work of his hands established. 
He saw growing up around him a great, virtuous, and 
happy family. He saw them spreading themselves 
out from the waves of the Atlantic to the foot of the 
Rocky Mountains, carrying with them the arts of civ- 
ilized life, and laying deep the foundations of a great, 
and good, and enduring government. A beneficent 
Providence lengthened out his days, and permitted 
him to survive all who acted with him in the great 
and illustrious scene of his life. He saw them fall 
around him one by one, until, forsaken by those of 
his own day, he felt himself standing amid a new gen- 
eration. Let us visit him at his fireside : we see him 
surrounded by the elegances of life, receiving the ca- 
resses of his children and his children's children, while, 
bendino- over the circle, Relioion sheds her holv lioht. 
When, about to take leave of earth, he tui'ued his eye 
for the last time upon its scenes, what was the sight 
Avhich met his dying vision ? Glorious beyond de- 
scription. He saw the broad lands about him soon 
covered with smiling fields, the forest giving back be- 
fore the wave of population ; the institutions of his 
country striking their roots deep and spreading their 
branches wide. He saw that broad banner, which he 
had stretched out an arm to raise in the dark day of 
doubt and danger, when hostile bayonets bristled all 
around it, now floating high above proud, happy, and 
free states, undimmed by the smoke of war, unstain- 
ed by tlie blood of battle, but covered all over mth 
the blessed light of peace. 



CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 395 

We are here on this day to bid a last farewell to the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. Hence- 
forth they are not associated with the scenes of earth ; 
their deeds have passed into history ; they belong to 
a brighter world. Farewell illustrious men. You 
can never jDass from our hearts. 

Let us cherish their memory. When a truly great 
man falls, the nation should honor him ; they should 
hang their garlands about his urn ; all that can be 
done to make his fame enduring should be done free- 
ly. The memory of such men constitutes the moral 
property of the nation, and when her fleets and ar- 
mies are scattered and torn — when her cities are lev- 
eled with the dust — when all her other monuments 
are crumbling beneath the march of Time, then the 
memory of her gTcat and good will stand unmoved 
amid the wrecks around, telling to all generations the 
story of her greatness, and encouraging man through- 
out all time to good deeds. 

This forms a new and interesting era in our history. 
It furnishes fit occasion for surveying the scenes 
around us. What place do we occupy among the na- 
tions, and for what are Ave responsible ? This coun- 
try is regarded as the last refuge of freedom, its only 
home upon the whole earth ; the eyes of the world 
are turned upon us ; with us the cause of all mankind 
rests. The friends of man in every nation look to us 
with anxious hope, and implore us to be faithful to 
the great trust; the memory of the great and the good 
throughout all ages supplicates us ; the noble army 
of martyrs in the cause of humanity stretch out their 
hands to us ; the blood and toil of our fathers cry 



396 CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON. 

aloud to us ; all, all entreat us to preserve the sjnrit 
of Liberty ; they admonish us by the wrecks of foi- 
mer times ; and they bid us, by all the blood pourc*^ 
out like water in the great cause, not to forsake it. 

If the cause of freedom goes down here, it is in the 
dust throughout the world — it is driven back forever : 
lost are the hopes of mankind ; vain the sufferings 
and toils of patriots; vain the blood of martyrs. Let 
these things inspire us ; let us tell the patriots who, 
amid the dark systems of other lands, bend their gaze 
upon us, that we will be faithful. 

Look around you : there is every thing to stimulate 
patriotism. If the poor inhabitant of a land frozen 
with eternal winter, or scorched by a burning sun, 
where the scanty vegetation which Nature yields 
scarcely supplies his wants, and where a system of 
bondage pollutes his soil, and grinds him and his chil- 
dren into the dust, still loves his native hills, and the 
scenes where his eyes first beheld the light, and the 
valleys which witnessed the sports of his boyhood, 
shall the feeling sleep in our bosoms ? Here, where 
the bounties of Nature come forth almost s2:)ontane- 
ously, where smiling Plenty blesses all, and where, 
amid the pleasant breezes of a healthful clime, we may 
look upon our kindred, free and happy, and meet 
them undisturbed in the temple of God, here let love 
of country abound. 

God grant that these blessings may not be lost to 
us or our children ; but that the light of liberty which 
shines over our happy land may yet spread itself out, 
until the uttermost ends of the earth rejoice beneath 
its beam. 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

AN ORATION DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF MONTGOMERY, ALA- 
BAMA, APRIL 21st, 1641. 

Antony, when standing by the body of his murder- 
ed friend, in the presence of the Roman people, ex- 
claimed, 

" I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."' 

And yet there was that in the history of Ca?sar which 
afforded an ample field for eulogy. He had borne 
the eagles of his countr}^ in triumph over every quar- 
ter of the globe, and had planted them upon lands till 
then unknown ; he had poured the wealth of broad 
and fertile provinces into the lap of the Imperial City, 
and had reared in it a colossal power which gave law 
to the world, and which gathered from tributary na- 
tions whatever was beautiful, or rich, or rare in the 
productions of nature or in the works of art, where- 
Avith to deck her own imperious brow. But Antony 
felt that, in the presence of his countrjTinen, he could 
not without apolog}^ speak of the virtues of his friend, 
for they all knew that, after having enriched Rome 
and made her glorious, he Avould have clothed him- 
self with unchecked authority, and have ruled as per- 
petual dictator. 

On this occasion, standing in the midst of the 
American people, assembled to pay a melancholy of- 
fering- to the memory of our late venerable and illus- 
trious chief magistrate, I may well speak of his vir- 



398 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

tues ; there is nothing to check the tribute which 
gushes from our hearts. He fell not beneath the 
blow of indignant patriotism striking for an injured 
country. He had worn the helmet in her service ; 
he had fought beneath her standard when the smoke 
of battle covered it, and hostile bayonets bristled 
about it ; he had sat in her high councils ; and, 
when he had served her long and well, he retired to 
his own quiet home, and engaged in the pursuits of 
agriculture. But he was called to quit his retire- 
ment, and take that lofty station where he must guide 
the vast and complicated concerns of a great people, 
and he yielded to the voice of his country. He had 
girded himself for the task, and had, with the hand 
of a master, sketched the broad, clear chart of his 
course ; and, while the shouts of thousands and tens 
of thousands yet resounded in hearty congratulations 
— while the ear that heard him blessed him, and the 
eye that saw him bore witness to him — in that very 
hour the gentle hand of his Maker was laid upon 
him, and he fell asleej) in death. His heart was true 
to his country while the tide of life coursed through 
it. Unlike the Roman, who fell while clothing him- 
self with the purple, the last sentiment that escaped 
his lips was the asj)iration that the great principles 
of constitutional liberty might be carried out. 

While, then, we bury him, let us speak of his vir- 
tues ; let not 

" The good be interred with his bones ;" 

let us cherish the memory of his noble qualities, and 

" Bequeath it, as a rich legacy, 
Unto our issue." 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HAERISON. 399 

For the first time in the history of government, 
the country has been called to mourn the death of its 
chief majristrate. An event in itself so solemn 
strikes upon the heart of the nation with the greater 
force from its suddenness. A whole people, who but 
yesterday were rejoicing, to-day are clad in mourn- 
ing. In every part of our extended country, from 
the sj^lendid mansions of the rich and the great to 
the humble cabins of the poor, maybe seen the signs 
of grief, and every Avhere, upon the land and upon 
the sea, our drooping standard tells the story of a 
nation's sorrow. 

Nor is all this a tribute paid to the station alone ; 
it is the character of the man who tilled that station 
that deepens the dirge which swells through our val- 
leys and over our mountain-tops. True, these United 
States have lost their president, but that president 
was William Henry Harrison. 

I shall not be expected to-day to enter at length 
upon the history of that illustrious man ; the coun- 
try knows it by heart. But yet it is so full of in- 
struction, and has in it so much to encourage virtue, 
that I sliould not be pardoned if I were to pass it by 
altogether. It is impossible to forget, while we trace 
his career from early youth up to the last moment of 
his life, that he was guided throughout by a high prin- 
ciple, which never listened to temptation, and never 
shrunk from danger. He was cradled amid the 
storms of the Revolution, and was bred up by one 
of tliose immortal men who put their hands to that 
instrument Avhich declared subject colonies to be free 
and independent states, and Avho pledged to tlie 



400 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

cause their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honor. 

In every department of life to which he was after- 
ward called, he showed that the lessons of his child- 
hood had not been lost upon him. 

In the year 1791, our northwestern borders were 
subject to the invasion of a ruthless enemy, who not 
only plundered, but desolated with fire and sAvord. 
The disastrous details of this conflagration and rapine 
spread over the whole country, and excited great in- 
dignation. 

William Henry Harrison, then a stripling of eight- 
een years, though engaged in professional studies, at 
once abandoned them. He received from the hands 
of Washinp;ton the commission of an ensign in the 
United States Artillery, and hastened to that part of 
our frontier known in the descriptive language of the 
times as "the dark and bloody ground." Here he 
commenced his career. He rose rapidly ; he was 
promoted to lieutenant ; he fought beneath the eye 
of Anthony Wayne, that commander so full of cour- 
age and energy, whose discipline was as strict as his 
daring was great ; and he attracted his notice, for, at 
the age of nineteen, he was chosen as one of the aids 
of that distinguished general. In the desperate bat- 
tle of Miami he Avon laurels, and rose presently to 
the rank of a captain. He was now honored Avith 
the most important trusts ; but at the close of the 
year 1797, there being no longer Avar to employ his 
active services, he left the army, and commenced his 
civil career. He received the important appointment 
of secretary and lieutenant governor of the North- 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 401 

.western Territory, and so ably and faithfully did he 
discharge the duties of his station, that he was cho- 
sen the next year as the first representative of that 
country in the Congress of the United States. He 
had won reputation as a soldier, but he took high 
rank now as a sound and wise statesman. With that 
benevolence which was ever a part of his nature, he 
" brought about that important change in the land sys- 
tem which enabled the ^ooor pioneer, who had gather- 
ed about him his little family and had penetrated the 
wilderness, to buy a home. The next year Mr. Har- 
rison was appointed to what was then a most impor- 
tant and perilous post, governor of the Territory 
known then as Indiana, and Avas clothed with almost 
unlimited power over that vast region. He perform- 
ed the trying duties of the station Avitli unsurpassed 
.ability, and, though the opportunities for amassing 
wealth were all around him, he refused them all, for 
he felt that a participation in such speculations would 
be a violation of his public trust. His power, great 
already, was augmented by Mr. Jefferson, who ap- 
pointed him sole commissioner to treat with the In- 
dians, and under this authority he obtained for his 
country more than sixty millions of acres. For thir- 
teen years he was reappointed to the same high trust, 
and during that period, at the head of the army, 
fought the celebrated battle of Tippecanoe, a fierce 
and bloody engagement, which was conducted with 
the utmost spirit and skill. President Madison, in 
speaking of it in his message to Congress, says^ 
"While it is deeply to be lamented that so many 
valuable lives have been lost in the action which took 

Co 



40:2 THE DEATH of president HARRISON. 

place on the Otli ultimo [November, 1812], CoiigTCSS 
will see "vvith satisfaction the daniitless spirit and for- 
titude victoriously displayed by every description of 
troops engaged, as well as the collected firmness which 
distinguished their connnander, on an occasion re- 
quiring the utmost exertion of valor and discipline.*" 

About this time our second war with Great Brit- 
ain ci])ened, and Governor Harrison rendered the most 
important services in putting the entire northwestern 
frontier in a state of defense, Illinois and Kentucky 
both sought his aid and shared his solicitude ; and so 
high did he stand in the j>ublic regard, that in his 
visits he was received with the acclamations of the 
people, and the highest honors were heaped upon 
him. 

Some evitlence of the state of the public feeling 
toward him may be gathered i'rom the fact that >\lien 
General Winchester, a Kevolutionary soldier and a 
brave officer, was put in chief command of the army, 
the troops would not march under him, but called for 
their favorite commander. General Harrison ; and the 
President, yielding to tlie wishes of the whole coun- 
try, appointed him commander-in-chief of the north- 
western army. 

Here followed a brilliant series of services. The 
deep gloom wliich lumg over our western borders be- 
gan to brighten ; the brave caught new enthusiasm, 
the timid became resolute, and the standard of our 
country, which had been trailing in the dust, was up- 
held In- the arm of Harrison, and borne higli amid 
the gloom of battle till the liglit of glory covered it. 
The British army, up to this time flushed with sue- 



TIIK DKA'ni OK I'KKSIDKNT IIARIMSON. 403 

'cess, gave back before the indomitable energy of re- 
inspirited troops, who pursued theiri into their own 
territory, and on tlie ])a)iks of the'J'hanies repaired all 
past reverses, and established the glory of American 
arms. 

Jjiit it is necdl(!ss to dwell on the military history 
of (Jeneral Harrison; ncjr, indeed, could we com])ress 
it into so brief a space. PTe would have gloiy enough 
had ho never set a sfpuuh-on in the field. In 181(1, 
he took his seat as a representative irom Oliio in 
the Congress of th(i United Stat(!s, and tlicre distin- 
guished himself by his able and faithful discharge of 
his duties. It was there that he gave that memorable 
vote on the Missouri cpjostion. When, in reply to 
a friend, who told him he would ruin himself by the 
vote which he j>roposed to give, he (ixclaimed, "It 
is better to ruin iriyself than to destroy the Constitu- 
tion of my country." 

Like Ciu'tius, who, clothing himself in his military 
robes, and moiuiting the steed which had borne him 
in battle, ])lunged into the chasm which Avas yawn- 
ing to ingulf Home, })ut which closed over his de- 
voted head, tlie liigh-souled representative, gathering 
about him all his honors, and with the laurels of vic- 
tory yet blooming uj)on his brow, plunged into that 
abyss which yawncid at liis feet, and threatenc;d to de- 
stroy the institutions of his (^oiuitry. But "on such 
a sacrifice the gods themselves pour incense." He 
rose strengthened. In 1824 he took his seat as a 
senator of the United States, and in 1828 he was 
appointed by Mr. Adams envoy extraordinary and 
minister plenipotentiary to the Kepublic of Colom- 



404 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

bia. He found this republic fast verging to a mili- 
tary despotism, and he made that appeal to Bolivar, 
so full of noble eloquence, and which breathes the 
very spirit of liberty. One sentiment in that address 
is enouo-h to immortalize him : "To be esteemed em- 

o 

inently great, it is necessary to be eminently good." 

From this mission it is well known that General 
Harrison was soon recalled. Returning to his home 
on the beautiful banks of the Ohio, he dwelt in the 
bosom of his family, and employed himself, like Cin- 
cinnatus, in cultivating the earth. 

From this retirement he was called by the Harris- 
burg Convention, and from that time up to the mo- 
ment of his death he passed through the most extra- 
ordinary scenes which, perhaps, have fallen to the lot 
of any man. I would not disturb the sacred solem- 
nity of this hour by any appeal to the distinctions of 
party, but I may be permitted to say that I have not 
found uf)on the pages of history a parallel for that 
spontaneous gushing out of a nation's enthusiasm, 
which, keeping within the barriers of constitutional 
order, swept every thing before it, and bore upon its 
bosom the citizen who, without rank, or wealth, or 
power, stood but now at the threshold of his own 
humble home, up to the very highest eminence of hu- 
man glory. 

A member of that body which placed the name of 
William Henry Harrison before the American peo- 
ple, I marked the wonderful scene from its very be- 
ginning, and it seems to rise before me like some 
gorgeous dream, sweeping through its rapid changes, 
and revealing its mighty lights and shadows. Alas 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 405 

that our glorious leader should so soon pass away 
into the darkness of the tomb! The affections of 
a great people were fixed upon him. They hailed 
his nomination to the hiojhest office wdthin their gift 
with acclamation ; they gathered about him in vast 
multitudes that no man could number ; they almost 
laid aside the ordinary occupations of life that they 
might do him service. Wealth, and genius, and labor, 
and learning, and beauty, gave themselves up to his 
cause, and the states of this great confederacy called 
him to take that chair which had been first filled by 
Washington. The gravity of the American charac- 
ter was for a time almost lost in the sentiment Avhich 
was identified with the name of Harrison, and all 
classes of men hastened to testify their veneration for 
him whose life had been given to his country, with 
scarcely a thought for himself. Look for a moment 
at the multitudes gathered to witness his inaugura- 
tion, and say if in this country such a scene had ever 
before been exhibited. Nor was this magnificent 
spectacle called up by the jDower Avhich was on that 
day conferred upon General Harrison. The heart 
was in it all. It was the pure, lofty, benevolent, 
patriotic character of the man which created it. 

Who, among the thousands that on that occasion 
heard the clear, trumpet tones of his voice proclaim- 
ing the principles upon which his administration 
would be based, thought that, within a little month, 
that voice would be hushed in death, and the great 
heart, which beat so high with patriotic ardor, would 
beat no more. 

He died in the midst of his glory. He had out- 



406 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

lived calumny ; he had vindicated himself before the 
world ; and then, surrounded by some members of 
his family, and a few faithful officers who had follow- 
ed him in the red path of battle, and Avho had been 
with him through evil report and through good re- 
port, he calmly breathed his last, and his soul rose, 
purified, to meet the Savior in whom he trusted. 

Farewell, illustrious man ! thy memory is em- 
balmed. 

It is most honorable to the American people that, 
since the death of the President, all political rancor 
has passed away, and men of all parties unite in pay- 
ing appropriate tributes to his memory. Throughout 
the Avide extent of our country there has been mani- 
fested a deep sense of the national bereavement. 

The sympathies of a whole people are gathering 
about her who was the Avife of his youth and the 
Avife of his old age. What can compensate herf 
All the honors Avhich his country has heaped upon 
him are as nothing to her ; she sits bereaA^ed in the 
humble home from Avhich they called him to his 
country's ser\dce, and it is her house of mourning. 

But that country Avill care for her. 

The character of William Henry Harrison belongs 
to his country, and it will contribute no small share 
of our national glory. In all public trusts he Avas 
faithful : as the defender of his country's rights in 
the field, he ahvays bore our standard to A^ctory ; and 
in those hiffh ciAdl stations to Avhich he Avas called, 
he manifested the highest concern for the preserva- 
tion of the great principles of constitutional liberty. 
The address delivered by him on the occasion of his 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 407 

takino; tlie oath of office as President of the United 
States would alone place him among the first of men. 
The lofty patriotism Avhich it breathes, and the com- 
prehensive and just views which it presents of the 
Constitution, will give it rank as a state paper of the 
highest order. 

When, too, we regard the late president as a inanj 
we venerate him. He stands out in the clear atmo- 
sphere of truth, and exhibits all the proportions of 
moral beauty. He was, in the highest sense of the 
term, an honest man : heaven's light did not visit any 
man of whom this could be said more emphatically. 
At this time, when all the world's splendor, and 
wealth, and glory have passed away from him, how 
full of comfort is it to reflect that he had placed his 
-trust in that Savior who died to redeem a lost world. 

Through life he exhibited this sentiment on many 
occasions. The Rev. Mr. Hawley remarked that he 
had "preached to several presidents, but that General 
Harrison was the fu^st one he had ever seen worship 
his Maker on his knees." 

It is said of him, too, that while he was on his way 
to Washington, at the hotel where he lodged in Pitts- 
burg, a child in whom he had manifested much inter- 
est was quite ill, and Avhen, about nine o'clock in the 
evening, the physician called on his little patient, he 
was informed that General Harrison had desired to 
learn the condition of the little sufferer. He entered 
the general's chamber, and found him engaged in read- 
ing the Bible ; and so intently was he looking into its 
sacred pages, that he did not perceive the presence of 
the physician until he was accosted. Begging par- 



408 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. 

don for the seeming discourtesy, he heard the report 
of the condition of his little friend ; and in reply to 
^the doctor''s expression of surprise that he should ai 
this hour be occupied in reading, when he must need 
repose after the fatigues of a day passed in receiving 
a great multitude of visitors, he said, "It has grown 
to be a fixed habit with me now to read a portion of 
the Scriptures every night. I am never so late re- 
tiring, or so weary, as to intermit that practice. It 
has been my habit for twenty years — at first as a 
matter of duty, but it has now become a pleasure. 
I read the Bible every night." 

In the midst of the assembled multitude who heard 
his inaugural address, it is well known that he pro- 
fessed his profound belief in the truth of the Chris- 
tian religion and his revei'ence for its doctrines. 0th- 
er presidents had spoken in general and very proper 
terms, certainly, of the Supreme Being, but he de- 
clared his faith in the Christian system. 

Durino: his last illness he received its consolations. 
We may well trust that his disembodied spirit, though 
it has passed away from the earth, has found a happy 
and eternal home amid brighter climes. 

While assembled here this day to honor the mem- 
ory of the illustrious dead, let us bury all bitterness 
with him. We are American citizens ; we claim a 
common country; we rejoice together in the day of 
her prosperity, and mourn when the time of her af- 
fliction cometh. 

Gathering, then, about the tomb of the brave and 
good man who was lately our president, let our 
hearts warm toward each other, and let us cherish 



THE DEATH OP PRESIDENT HARRISON. 409 

the virtues of the departed hero and statesman as the 
common property of the nation : 

" Such a man 
Might be a copy to these younger times." 

In the language of the great poet, 

" This was the noblest Roman of them all ; 
His life was gentle ; and the elements 
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 
And say to all the world, This was a man." 



XnE LIFE AND CHAKACTER OF HENRY 

CLAY. 

AN ORATION DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF MONTGOMERY, ALA- 
BAMA, SEPTEMBER, 1852. 

Pericles, in his oration over those Athenians who 
had first fallen in the Peloponnesian war, declared it 
to be a debt of justice to pay superior honors to men 
who had devoted their lives in fighting for their 
country. 

What honors, then, are due to one who devoted 
his whole life to the service of his country ; who did 
not reserve his heroism for a single impetuous act of 
self-sacrifice, but who, in his early manhood, conse- 
crated himself to the republic ; who, throughout a 
long career, was identified Avith its glory ; whose de- 
clining days were irradiated with a sunset glow of 
patriotism ; and whose heart flamed, up to the last 
moment of his earthly existence, with the great pas- 
sion of his life? It becomes us to bring our noblest 
offerings to him who thrice saved the republic ; who 
rose above a horizon yet glowing with the expiring 
lights of the Revolution, and for half a century shed 
the splendor of a great intellect upon our hemisphere ; 
who, belonirins: to our times, is reo-arded with the 

" CD O ' O 

veneration which we are accustomed to pay to the 
illustrious men who laid the foundations of the gov- 
ernment; and who, though so lately a living actor 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 411 

in tlie scenes of public life, is already sent to History 
with an imperishable croAvn upon his brow. 

It is a noble faculty of our nature which prompts 
our homage to greatness. We recognize in those 
who have toiled in the cause of humanity the quali- 
ties which assimilate man to the Deity — which seem 
to lessen the distance between the finite and the infi- 
nite. They*appeal to that profound love for the 
good and the beautiful which lies hidden in every hu- 
man heart. 

Hero worship is not 'a development of modern so- 
ciety. The benefactors of their race in ancient times 
passed away from the earth to take their places 
among the stars, and were elevated to the circle of 
the gods ; and in this time of ours, ruled as the world 
is by the commercial sj^irit — prone as it is to gold- 
seeking and all forms of materialism, the heart of 
this nation beats with generous emotion when a true 
man appeals to it in tones of real earnestness, or per- 
forms some heroic exploit, or falls in the service of 
the state. 

No man of our times has ruled the heart of the 
nation with a more potent or resistless sway than the 
great statesman to whose memory we are assembled 
this day to pay the last honors. 

For nearly half a century, the name of Henry Clay 
has been associated with the eventful and glorious 
history of our country ; and I could not pay a nobler 
tribute to his genius and his patriotism than to enu- 
merate the great measures which he either originated, 
or of which he Avas the most ardent and powerful ad- 
vocate. It Avas the boast of Augustus that he found 



412 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

Rome of brick and left it of marble. Mr. Clay 
might, in the closing days of his life, have lifted his 
illustrious head to a prouder survey than an imperial 
city converted from brick into marble ; he might have 
swept the broad horizon of his country with an un- 
dimmed eye, and have claimed her wealth, her indus- 
try, her enterprise, her power, her glory, all that con- 
stitutes the pride of independent America, with the 
Mississippi sending its mighty tide to the sea free 
from foreign sway, with ships which bear the flag of 
freedom to the remotest waters of the earth, with a 
government stretching its power without check over 
a continent, and planting its triumphant eagles upon 
the shores of the two great oceans of the world — he 
might have claimed all this, in a large sense, as the 
work of his hands, and looked upon it as emblazon- 
ing his fame forever. To his labors we are indebted 
for the freedom of the seas, for a treaty with Great 
Britain which left us in undisputed possession of our 
own waters, for the success of manufacturers, for the 
great works of internal improvement, and, above all, 
for that Union which to-day exists in the full pride 
of its power and its glory, 

Cicero, when about to speak of Pompey, congrat- 
ulated himself that he had a theme so crowded with 
glorious associations that he could not fail to inter- 
est his audience, for the exploits of the great Roman 
transcended those of the proudest names in imperial 
history, and conferred increased splendor ujDon the 
i-epublic. Let this be my inspiration to-day ; let me 
take courage, as I look over this great multitude, in 
the reflection that, although I am not to speak of a 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 413 

military chieftain, the recital of whose great deeds in 
arms would rouse the hearts of all men, yet I am to 
speak of one who reached a still loftier eminence than 
can be attained in the field of battle ; whose majestic 
character lifts its summit to the heavens in the clear 
light of peace ; whose hand was raised to bless, and 
not to destroy ; whose name, for years past, has nev- 
er been uttered in assemblies of the people without 
calling out shouts of enthusiasm ; and whose renown 
is bounded only by the limits of the civilized world. 

I am to speak of Henry Clay. 

It is not possible, perhaps, to sj^eak of so recent a 
career without catching something of the spirit of the 
times ; and it may be that the simple language of 
truth will arouse passions which have not yet settled 
down into that calm which Time spreads alike over 
the convulsions of nature and of states. But I must 
be allowed to speak of the character of the great 
statesman with freedom, and to portray the events 
which called out his powers, and over which he ex- 
erted an influence so potential, with the fidelity which 
should distinguish the pages of history, whether the 
record be made before the actors have sunk out of 
the view of the living generation, or whether it be 
traced by one who looks across the cold atmosphere 
of intervening years at the scenes which he describes. 
Surrounded as I am by Americans, who assemble 
here, irrespective of party differences, to bring a gar- 
land for the tomb of an illustrious patriot, I shall 
seek to treat Mr. Clay's acts, opinions, and merits as 
those of an American in whose fame we all have now 
a connnon interest. 



414 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

Mr. Clay was born in Hanover county, Virginia, 
on the 12th of April, 1777. 

He was fortunate both in the time and place of his 
birth. His youth was passed among men who had 
taken part in the struggles of the Revolution, and 
who, after the storm had gone by, were engaged un- 
der the serene heavens in laying the foundations of a 
free government. 

In Virginia, that renowned commonwealth, which 
has nourished at her generous bosom so many illus- 
trious sons, who, deriving their existence from a no- 
ble lineage, were among the first to defy the power of 
Great Britain — in Virginia, within whose limits the 
last gTeat battle of the Revolution was fought, and 
where so many statesmen arose who shared the perils 
of that great contest, and who, after achieving the 
independence of the country, had established the re- 
public — there Mr. Clay formed the opinions and 
adopted the principles which governed his whole life. 
He grew up under the training of Edmund Pendle- 
ton, John Marshall, Bushrod Washington, and other 
eminent men who were engaged in public affairs, and 
with whom a young man of ardent and high aspira- 
tions could not associate without having his mind 
liberalized and his nature ennobled. No circum- 
stance can be more fortunate for one who is to take 
part in the great affairs of life than the privilege of 
seeing and hearing, in his youth, illustrious men — a 
privilege Avhich often does more for the development 
of genius and the elevation of character than the 
most rigid training of the schools. Cicero traveled 
to Rhodes that he might be instructed in the cele- 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 415 

brated school of eloquence established there by^schi- 
nes, and we have the immortal orations which he de- 
livered in tlie forum and in the senate-chamber. 

Henry Clay, destitute of the gifts of fortune, of the 
means of foreign travel, of the advantages of a colle- 
giate course, stood in the presence of Patrick Henry, 
and, while he heard the thunder of his eloquence, he 
caught an inspiration as fortunate as that which the 
Koman senator found in his youth. Who can say 
how far the whole career of Mr. Clay was influenced 
by that early and eager listening to the voice of 
Patrick Henry? Did not the mighty energies of 
that resistless orator find an echo in the bosom of 
the obscure youth who stood up to hear his trumpet 
tones? The same generous fire, the same clarion 
voice, the same rushing, impetuous power of intel- 
lect belonged to both. The same spirit of patriotic 
fervor which animated the Demosthenes of Virginia 
flamed uj) in Henry Clay with equal ardor and brill- 
iancy. 

It is worth while, for the sake of a cheering prin- 
ciple which the fact contains, to say that the early 
life of Mr. Clay was one of toil ; in the fields, or 
wherever else the wants of his mother's family re- 
quired, he labored ; and the hand which, in the prime 
of manhood, directed the movements of the govern- 
ment, had guided the plow as it turned up the soil to 
receive the seed. At fifteen, he entered the ofiice of 
Mr. Tinsley, of Pichmond, who was connected Avith 
the Court of Chancery, and there he attracted the at- 
tention of Chancellor Wythe, who employed him as 
an amanuensis, directed his studies, introduced him to 



416 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

authors of solid worth, and opened his mind to receive 
the generous influence of classical learning. 

" There upon his opening soul 
First the genial ardor stole." 

At twenty, in the true spirit of self-reliance, he left 
Virginia, and established himself in Lexington, Ken- 
tucky. The friendless youth took his place at the 
bar, and, relying upon his intellect, his energy, his in- 
dustry, his honest purpose to do his duty, he estab- 
lished his claim to consideration in the midst of full- 
grown men already eminent. 

Without a large acquaintance with law-books, or 
an extensive survey of the broad foundations of the 
system of jurisprudence inherited from England, Mr. 
Clay had applied his mind to a j^hilosophical investi- 
gation of its leading principles. These he had grasp- 
ed with a mind singularly clear, rapid, and compre- 
hensive ; and with an energy quite indomitable, and 
a faithful consecration of himself to every task which 
he undertook, he continued to rank through life as 
a lawyer in the highest and best sense, and to ^vm 
triumphs at the bar which many men of more re- 
search, with inferior abilities, would in vain have at- 
tempted. 

He was not destined to continue at the bar. He en- 
tered early into the service of his country, and it is 
his political career which Ave are to review — a review 
of which it is not too much to say that it was the 
most splendid ever witnessed among the statesmen 
of this country. Rising rapidly to the highest heav- 
ens, he flooded the country Avith his light through a 
long day, and when he sunk toward the liorizon 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 417 

which touches eternity, he threw the milder beams 
of his majestic intellect over the republic from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Clay's first ap- 
pearance in Congress was as a senator from the State 
of Kentucky, a post which he held but for a short 
time. He was elected to the House of Kepresenta- 
tives, and took his seat in the Congress which was 
convened by the President's proclamation in Novem- 
ber, 1811, when the aspect of our foreign relations 
was threatening. He Avas instantly chosen sjDcaker 
by an overwhelming majority. A higher proof of 
confidence in his abilities and character, or a nobler 
tribute to his patriotism, could not have been accorded; 
nor has any parliamentary body, in any country, ever 
brought to its service a presiding officer more richly 
endowed with those great qualities, so rarely found 
blended in a single individual, which are required in 
one who rules the deliberations of a free popular as- 
sembly. Prompt, firm, and decided, he impressed 
the House with a profound respect for his authority, 
while the manliness, frankness, and elegance of his 
manners secured to him the sincere good-will of the 
body, even in the midst of the most momentous and 
exciting debates. 

He continued to preside over the House through- 
out his protracted service as a representative. 

Passing through the most eventful tunes, he con- 
tinued firmly seated in the speaker s chair, and exert- 
ed over the deliberations of that great jDopular body 
almost unlimited control. The House of Pej^resent- 
atives, created by the people — exhibiting tlie popu- 
lar sympathies — swayed by the tempests which sweep 

Dd 



4 IS THE LIFE AXP CH AEAOTER OF HEXKY CLAY. 

ovor the oountrv — atfording, from its largo iimnber 
of members, opportimities for tlio powerful appeals 
of oratory — the seat of the nation's strength, where 
every tax-bill must originate, and where the quick in- 
dignation excited by any assertion upon the rights 
or honor of the country may at once flame up into a 
declai*ation o{ war. Avas the proper theatre for the 
display of Mr. Clay's transcendent abilities. The 
Senate is a smaller body, embodying the conservative 
elements of the government, removed from the direct 
influence of the people, and so constituted as to An tli- 
stand the sm*ges of popular passions Avhich some- 
times thunder against its portals. 

In the House !Mi*. Clay acquii-ed a commanding in- 
fluence over the country. He became the popular 
loader, animating the Bepublican ranks to heroic ex- 
ertions, denouncing in vehement and indignant terms 
all opposition to the measures of the administrations 
which he sustained, and on some occasions bearing 
awav not only the House, but the Senate and the 
executive, by his resistless will. 

His great strength was with the people. His heart 
beat in sAinpathv with their hearts : they compre- 
hended him : they loved him ; they put their ti'ust 
in him ; and the pealing notes of his voice, uttered in 
the Capitol, foimd an echo in the remotest border of 
the American wilderness. He acquii*ed the name of 
the "Great Commoner" a prouder title than kings 
can bestow with stars, or garters, or ribbons. 

Henrv Brougham. Avhen in the House of Com- 
mons, was the most powerful man in the British em- 
pire. Tlie civilized world rang Avith his tones. No 



THE LIFE AND CilARACTER OF HENRY CLAY, 419 

administration, backed as it might Le by the powers 
of the crown, could stand before his assaults ; but 
from the day when he took his seat in the House of 
Lords, and became a titled peer, his sway began to 
decline, and the consideration which he now enjoys 
is due to the splendid fame w^hich he won as a repre- 
sentative of the people. Pitt, the younger, never 
would surrender his seat in the Commons, which was 
to him a throne more powerful than that upon which 
his monarch sat. 

Mr. Clay, if he had continued in the House of 
Representatives, refusing to abandon that post for 
any office to which he was not called by the people, 
could have strode with the majesty of a demi-god into 
the presidency of the United States. In the Senate 
he was still powerful, the leading mind in that body 
when it was crowded with men of the highest order, 
great in intellect, splendid in reputation : it rivaled 
the Roman senate in dignity, and transcended it in 
power. In that body he was great as Lord Chatham 
was in the House of Lords ; he could not be other- 
wise than great ; but the day of his full-orbed splendor 
was when he stood in the House of Representatives, 
a tribune of the people. Refulgent he stood in the 
view of his country, full of promise, of hope, and of 
manhood. When Mr. Clay entered the House of 
Representatives, all Europe was engaged in a war 
wliich shook the world, and our commerce was ex- 
posed to its fury. It became a prey to the contend- 
ing powers. England swept the seas with her fleets, 
and plundered our unprotected vessels, while she 
stripped them of such seamen as might be supposed 



420 THE LIFE A^:D CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

to owe allegiance to the British croAvii. Fmnce 
seized our pivperty wherever it could be Ibiind, and 
confiscated it under the decrees of Napoleon, wlio 
strove to range the world ag-ainst his imperial and 
powerful enemy. France at length yielded to our 
I'cmonsti'ances, but Great Britain persisted in a course 
of aggression which roused the spirit of the nation, 
and drove us into a war Avhich, although costl}' in 
treasui'e and in blood, vindicated our rights, and shed 
new lusti*e upon the flag of the republic. Reluctant 
as the nation was to eiiiraiie in war, Mr. Clav urired 
its policy and necessity; he org-nnized the connnit- 
tees of the House so as to conti\)l its action ; he de- 
nounced the policy, the objects, and the measui\^s of 
the British government, and attributed its hostility 
to the United States not to any wish to attack the 
interests of France by destroying oiu* commerce, but 
to her dread of a young and powerful rival, who al- 
ready sent her ships to every sea, manned by one 
hundred and t^A-^nty tai-s. He advocated an inci'ease 
of the navy, for he comprehended that iio modern 
nation can be really independent which is not pi'e- 
pared to protect its people and its commeiTe in the 
most distant seas, and to cause its flag to be i*espected 
under Avhatever sky it is displayed. The country 
was put into an attitude of resistance, and in Jutie, 
1812, the committee on foreign relations reported to 
the House a bill declaring war ag-ainst Great Britain. 
Mr. Cla}' adN ocated its passage with i*esistless pow- 
er ; associated with him stood Mr. Lo^-ndes, Mr, Cal- 
houn, and Mr. Cheves, and they bore down all oppo- 
sition. In the van of that group of statesmen Mr. 



THE LIFE AND OllAIJAC'TKU OV IIENIIY OLAV. 421. 

Clny stood proudly ciniiiciit; tlii"oii;2,lioiil, the \\:ii- ho 
iinimntod tlio couiifi-y witli his own sph-it; no re- 
Vt'i'ses could dishcai'Icn, no disasters rouhl (K'prcss 
him. lie oxultingh ainiouncod evxM'y victory upon 
llic sens, and his voice announced with vehement, in- 
dignation e\'er\' pro|)osi(ion tor peace Avliich did no(. 
secure to us I lie amplest guarantees that our I'ights 
and our honor shoiihl hi' respecteih 

\\v o\ crw iielnied the o[)|)Ositi()ii — he lired the 
friends of (hc^ a(hninistr;itH)n with 1us own ar(h)r — 
lie inllanu'd the repi'esentatives ol" the peo|)h^ witli 
a, hniMiing' indiguatioii a|;ainst tlu^ iinperi(jus and 
liaughty nation willi wliom (he country was at "war, 
by describing' (he wi'ong, the cruelty, and the sutler- 
ing' which ri'snUcd Ironi the practice of impressment, 
luitil, as he advanced in his gloAviiig philippic, the 
utter degi'adation of suhmittingto such a, system was 
felt by tlie mend)ers ol' the House so inteusely that 
tlie tide of passion could be peut up no louger ; it 
burst forth l)eiort' tlie ehxpient statesuiau who wa,s 
[)lea(ling for (lie honor and rights of the nation, and 
swept away all ivsistance to the Avai*. 

Having ui'gxHl the country to vindicate its rights 
by w^ar, Mr. CUay Avas ecpially prompt aud euergetic 
in securing an honorable peace. He was associated 
with Mr. Adams, Mi-. Clallatiu, Mr. Bayard, aud Mr. 
Ixussell in negotiating at Gheut a treaty of peace 
with the conunissioners appointed on the part of 
Great Britain. The fisheries and the uavioatiou of 
the Mississip|>i formed the chief difliculties iu T)ring- 
ing the uegotiatiou to a frieudly issue. The British 
conunissioners iusisted u[)ou a recognitioji iu the 



422 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OP HENRY CLAY. 

treaty of the right of Great Britain to navigate the 
Mississippi from its mouth to its source — a right 
which had hitherto been enjoyed in consideration of 
the jDrivilege granted to citizens of the United States 
to fish within the British waters, and to dry and cure 
their fish upon British soil. Some of the American 
commissioners thought it best to perpetuate this stip- 
ulation, but Mr. Clay announced his unalterable de- 
termination "never to consent to purchase tempora- 
ry and uncertain privileges within the British limits 
at the expense of putting a foreign and degrading 
mark upon the noblest of all our rivers."" His views 
prevailed. Mr. Clay returned to his own country 
with the proud consciousness of having placed her 
honor and her rights upon a footing which the whole 
world would respect. 

The success of our arms u^^on the land, and the 
brilliant victories achieved by our young navy over 
the powerful fleets of Great Britain upon the sea, 
had caused the American name every where to be re- 
spected ; and the splendid example of a republic for- 
midable in war, and yet ready to adjust all causes of 
controversy with moderation and justice, was beheld 
by the civilized world with unbounded admiration. 

The treaty of peace left us in possession of every 
rio-ht which we had asserted, and which we had un- 
dertaken to vindicate by war; our seamen might 
visit the remotest seas, and find protection in the flag 
that floated over them ; our commerce was safe from 
spoliation ; and the noble river which rolls its waters 
through great states, beginning at the extreme north, 
and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, was freed 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 423 

from foreign vassalage, and became, for the first time, 
American. In anticipation of his return, Mr. Clay 
had been elected to Congress by his constituents, and, 
entering the House of Representatives, he was im- 
mediately chosen speaker by a vote almost unani- 
mous. The South American colonies, animated by 
the example of the United States, were struggling for 
independence. The spectacle could not fail to inter- 
est our people and our government, nor was it possi- 
ble for a statesman like Mr. Clay, with quick sympa- 
thies and enlarged philanthropy, to look on such a 
contest with indifference. 

He proposed to provide in the Appropriation Bill 
for the pay of a minister to the indej^endent prov- 
inces of the River de la Plata, and supported his mo- 
tion by one of the most brilliant, comprehensive, and 
powerful speeches which he ever delivered. The 
moral grandeur of his position was never higher than 
on that occasion. He stood up to plead for the rec- 
ognition of the independence of the South American 
states against the opinion of the world. Europe was, 
of course, opposed to the measure ; Congress would 
not consent to favor it ; the President was imwilling 
to commit the government of the United States to 
that extent ; and yet Mr. Clay arose, refulgent and 
undismayed, against this universal opposition. He 
spoke in behalf of human freedom, and he drew from 
history his illustrations in support of the right of 
every people suffering under despotic rule to throw 
off the yoke of subjection, to create new defenses for 
their protection, or to take an independent station 
among the nations of the earth. 



424 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

England and our own country had both nobly vin- 
dicated this great right. It is emblazoned in charac- 
ters of unfading light in the history both of the En- 
glish and American Revolutions. His speech in this 
great cause was replete with learning and eloquence. 
It announced in exulting tones the advent of free- 
dom, and proclaimed with bounding hope the over- 
throw of despotic power. Mr. Clay succeeded in 
bringing our government to a recognition of South 
American indej^endence, and he was well rewarded 
for his generous exertions by the assurance that his 
words had infused new ardor into the bosoms of a 
brave people. His speech was read at the head of 
their armies, to excite them to still nobler struggles 
for liberty, and Bolivar addressed to him a grateful 
letter, acknowledging the essential service which he 
had rendered to their great cause. 

Upon certain great questions of American policy 
Mr. Clay entertained opinions which he frankly 
avowed through life. He believed that Congress 
possessed the power to appropriate money for works 
of internal improvement, and he urged the adoption 
of a comprehensive system to facilitate intercourse 
between the people of the several states, and to bind 
more closely the various parts of one wide-spread re- 
public. The leading statesmen of our country have 
been divided upon this question ; it is yet a subject 
of debate, after all the light which has been shed 
upon it. The power was conceded by Mr. Jefferson, 
for he favored the construction of the Cumberland 
Road. Mr. Madison invited the attention of Con- 
gress to the expediency of exercising their powers to 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 425 

effectuate a comprehensive system of roads and ca- 
nals. Mr. Monroe proposed to make appropriation 
of money for like objects ; while Mr. Gallatin and 
Mr. Calhoun, when at the head of the War Depart- 
ment, the one in 1808 and the other ten years later, 
advocated extensive measures of internal improve- 
ment ; but the last named of these statesmen subse- 
quently reviewed and modified his opinions. 

Mr. Clay persevered through life impressing the 
subject upon the attention of Congress, and to him 
more than any other of our statesmen is the country 
indebted for such j)ublic works as have been already 
accomj)lished, and for the vindication of the jDower 
of the government to undertake such enterprises — a 
power which, Avhen guided by the spirit of the Con- 
stitution, is a most important and beneficent one. 
The Cumberland Road, conceived and executed in a 
spirit as bold as that which constructed the Simplon 
Road over the Alps, opens a way across the AUe- 
ghanies, and spreads before the eye of the traveler a 
noble memorial of the great statesman who labored 
so ardently and so faithfully to accomplish it. 

Upon another question, which, like that of inter- 
nal improvements, has ranged the public men of the 
country in fierce opposition to each other, and which 
has more than once threatened to disturb the tran- 
quillity of the government — the tariff — Mr. Clay en- 
tertained opinions which, formed early in life, were 
cherished throughout his career. 

He was the advocate of the system for the protec- 
tion of American industry. 

He thought it essential to the true prosperity and 



426 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

the real independence of the United States that our 
people should produce at home the chief articles suit- 
ed to the wants of man in civilized life. The variety 
of soil and climate — the adaptation of some parts of 
the country to agricultural productions — the aptness 
of some of our peoj)le to engage in commerce — all 
these natural elements would be supposed to work 
out their results ; but the skill required in the me- 
chanic arts, the fluctuations in prices occasioned by 
changes in the affairs of European states, and the 
advantages possessed by foreign capitalists in the em- 
ployment of pauper labor, seemed to him to require 
some j)rotection for the manufacturing interest, and 
he perseveringly insisted that certain articles import- 
ed into the country, and coming into opposition with 
our own productions, should be taxed, to enable the 
American manufacturer to compete with rival estab- 
lishments abroad. This system he named the Amer- 
ican System. 

This is not the occasion to enter upon an examina- 
tion of the merits of a system which has been so long 
and so fiercely debated ; but it is due to the truth of 
history to say that it found in Mr. Clay far the ablest 
advocate ever employed in its cause, while his ene- 
mies acknowledged him to be the most magnanimous 
statesman that had ever conducted a great measure 
to which he was deeply committed through a long 
course of years and changing fortunes. 

He did not hesitate to yield up, from time to 
time, some of his cherished ideas in regard to it from 
a patriotic desire to secure to the government as 
large a share of confidence and satisfaction as could 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 427 

be attained amid the conflicting opinions of public 
men representing tlie diversified interests of the coun- 
try. 

It was the good fortune of Mr. Clay to find him- 
self more than once holdino; a controllinj>: influence 
over important questions which tried the strength of 
the government, and on every occasion he displayed 
qualities so noble, so magnanimous, and so full of the 
spirit which in ancient or modern times has impelled 
men to sacrifices for the good of their country, that 
he has long been ranked with patriots who shed 
along the track of history the light of resplendent 
examples, to encourage mankind to the performance 
of deeds which deserve to be called heroic. 

In the controversy which sprung uj) upon the ap- 
plication of Missouri to be admitted into the Union 
as a state, Mr. Clay displayed his great qualities, and 
rendered the most important services to the country. 
That controversy was far the most formidable which 
has ever occurred under our government. 

Mr. Jeff*erson, looking out upon the state of the 
country from his retirement in Virginia, was startled 
by the alarming aspect of afikirs ; he declared that he 
regarded the question as the most momentous which 
had ever threatened the Union, and that, in the dark- 
est hour of the Kevolutionary struggle, he had nev- 
er felt such apprehensions as then oppressed him. 
From the beginning to the end of that perilous agi- 
tation, Mr. Clay labored without ceasing to bring 
about an adjustment, and at length succeeded in car- 
rying through both houses of Congress a compromise 
which saved the Union and gave repose to the coun- 



428 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

try. The services rendered by liim on that occasion 
were so signal, that he acquired, in addition to the ti- 
tle of the "Great Commoner," another title still more 
illustrious, that of the "Great Pacificator" — a title 
to Avhich he subsequently vindicated his name by 
services still more important and splendid. Mr. Clay 
had now attained the most commanding position ; 
his brilliant talents, his important public services, 
Ms ardent patriotism, which, like that of the ancient 
Greeks, made him regard every thing as subordinate 
to the glory of the state ; his national views, which 
would not allow him to belong to a section of the 
Republic, had endeared him to the people, and, young 
as he was, he was presented to the country as a can- 
didate for the presidency. 

Besides Mr. Clay, Mr. Adams, General Jackson, 
and Mr. Crawford became candidates. No choice 
was made by the people, and the election devolved 
upon the House of Representatives, by whom the 
Constitution provides one of the three candidates 
having the highest number of electoral votes shall be 
chosen President in cases Avhere no one of the persons 
voted for shall have received a majority of the whole 
number. The three candidates highest on the list 
were General Jackson, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Craw- 
ford. The provision in the Constitution which di- 
rects the election to be made by the House of Rep- 
resentatives in the event of a failure on the part of 
the people to choose the President, and which limits 
the choice to the three persons receiving the largest 
vote in the electoral colleges, of course leaves to the 
House the unrestricted privilege of selecting from the 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 429 

list either of the candidates ; otherwise it would be 
unnecessary to devolve upon the representatives of 
the people the duty of performing a formal act, and 
it would have been a provision in the fundamental 
law that a plurality of votes should entitle a candi- 
date to the office of President. It was well known 
that Mr, Clay's influence in the House would enable 
him to decide the contest between the three persons 
returned to that body. It is believed that Mr. Craw- 
ford would have been Mr. Clay's choice if the splen- 
did intellect of that statesman had not been partially 
impaired by disease ; in its meridian effulgence, the 
shadows of an eclipse which never passed away began 
to steal over it. Between Mr. Adams and General 
Jackson Mr. Clay did not hesitate, and decided in 
favor of the former. His long public services, his 
learning, his eminent qualifications, and his position 
in the country, might have accounted satisfactorily 
for Mr. Clay's preference ; but no sooner was it ascer- 
tained that he intended to vote for Mr. Adams, than 
the fiercest and most vindictive assault was made 
upon him, and reckless partisans of General Jack- 
son persevered in charging upon him a corrupt bar- 
gain with the new president for office, which would 
have disgraced a statesman in the time of Walpole, 
when the venality of the House of Commons was 
proverbial. Calumny found a great name to fasten 
upon, and it adhered to it with a tenacity as shame- 
less as it was malignant. That name has been tri- 
umphantly vindicated by the subsequent career of 
the great statesman ; like the eagle soaring toward 
the sun, he rose high in the heavens, his eye blazing 
with ardor, and his wings flashing with light. 



430 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

Mr. Clay accepted the place of Secretary of State 
in the cabinet of Mr. Adams. That was his error ; 
it exposed him to detraction, and gave that color to 
the injurious charge of his enemies which, if he had 
declined the office, it never could have possessed. 
But it was an error into which a pure and strong 
man was apt to fall. Conscious of his own integrity, 
he looked down with unmeasured scorn upon those 
who calumniated him. In this world of ours, it is, 
perhaps, not wise to do so ; yet who can withhold 
his sympathy from the true man who A\ill not swerve 
from his course to escape the attacks of his enemies? 
In this rajDid glance at Mr. Clay''s career, we have 
reached the period when he took leave of the House 
of Kepresentatives, never to return to it. We have 
already said that it was the proper field for the exer- 
cise of his great abilities. He had earned there a 
splendid reputation ; he had controlled the action of 
the government by the power which he exerted over 
the House ; he had originated the most important 
measures of the country ; he had roused the nation 
to wage war with a haughty and powerful empire ; 
he had cheered the friends of liberty throughout the 
world by words of generous sympathy ; and he had 
effected a pacific adjustment of an angry and moment- 
ous domestic controversy which shook the republic ; 
and now the " Great Commoner^*' strode through the 
portal of that magnificent chamber which had so long 
rung with his tones, and ceased forever to be a Kep- 

RESENTATIVE OF THE PeOPLE, 

Mr. Clay, when Secretary of State, was distinguish- 
ed for the energy and comprehensiveness which he 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OP HENRY CLAY. 431 

displayed in conducting the intercourse of the United 
States with foreign nations. 

His statesmanship was of the highest order. He 
established the relations of the United States with 
other powers upon a footing which gave security to 
commerce ; he extended to the young states of South 
America and to Greece, when fighting for independ- 
ence, all the aid which a sound policy would allow ; 
he extended our foreign trade, and conducted the ne- 
gotiations which accomplished these objects in a spir- 
it so firm and just, that the triumphs of peace rival- 
ed those of war. At the expiration of the term for 
which Mr. Adams was elected, Mr. Clay left Wash- 
ington and returned to Ashland. 

He soon appeared in the Senate of the United 
States. The memorable tariff dispute with South 
Carolina had grown to be a formidable and porten- 
tous one. It turned upon a great constitutional prin- 
ciple, and it is well known that the most dangerous 
of all disputes are those which involve a principle. 
Temporary abuses may be ridiculed ; an odious meas- 
ure may be repealed ; the pressure of the government 
may be borne when the times require it ; but a law 
which overrides a constitutional barrier will be re- 
sisted by a high-spirited j)eople in a temper so heat- 
ed by a sense of wrong that it sometimes flames up 
into a revolution. South Carolina, in solemn con- 
vention, passed an ordinance declaring the revenue 
laws of the United States to be null and void with- 
in her limits, and adopted decided measures for put- 
ting the state into an attitude of resistance to the 
general government. General Jackson, who was at 



432 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

tlie head of the government, issued a proclamation, 
in which he denounced the proceedings of South Car- 
olina as treasonable, urged the good citizens of that 
state who were opposed to Nullification to co-operate 
with him in maintaining the supremacy of the laws, 
and invited those who had hitherto taken part in the 
revolutionary movement to abandon the perilous 
course upon which they had entered. He leveled 
his thunders against the doctrine of Nullification and 
that of Secession, denying the right of the state either 
to set aside a laAv of the United States, or to with- 
draw from the confederacy without the consent of all 
the states. In a special message to Congress, he de- 
picted the state of the country, and demanded to be 
clothed with power to suppress by force any attempt 
at resistance on the part of South Carolina. 

Governor Hayne issued a counter-proclamation, 
encouraging the citizens of South Carolina to a steady 
and heroic support of their state in her daring and 
perilous position. The sky grew darker every hour. 
The day fixed upon by South Carolina for resistance 
to the revenue laws was rapidly approaching. The 
state planted herself in the pass of ThermojDylae, and 
her sons were prepared to die in her defense. 

Mr. Calhoun had resigned the office of Vice-presi- 
dent, and was chosen by his state a senator in that cri- 
sis. The energy and resolution of his character were 
well known ; and entering the Senate when it was 
believed that his own person was not safe, he brought 
that intellectual power for which he was so distin- 
guished into the defense of his state, and delivered in 
her cause far the ablest speech which he ever uttered 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 433 

in his whole career. His great antagonist was Mr. 
Webster, who had, in a previous debate with Mr. 
Ha}aie, delivered a speech in defense of the Union 
which stands unsurpassed by any oration of ancient 
or modern times. It combines the elegance of Cicero 
with the power of Demosthenes — the sjolendor of 
Burke with the vigor of Pitt. The Senate and the 
country witnessed the debate between Mr. Calhoun 
and Mr. Webster with the profoundest interest. It 
involved great organic principles, and the impending 
collision between the government and a state gave 
them an intenser significance and a higher grandeur. 
At that conjuncture, when the light seemed to have 
faded from the darkening horizon, Mr. Clay brought 
forward a measure Avhich promised to restore peace to 
the country. He offered to the Senate his Compromise 
Bill, which provided for a decided but gradual reduc- 
tion of the duties upon imported articles up to the year 
1842, at which period they Avere to be fixed at a rate 
of twenty per cent, upon the Jiome valuation — a prin- 
ciple of the greatest importance in the revenue system. 
Mr. Calhoun rose in the Senate, and gave his reluct- 
ant consent to Mr. Clay's bill. It passed both houses 
of CongTess, after encountering determined opposition 
in each of them, and South Carolina acquiesced in 
the measure of reconciliation. Civil war was avert- 
ed, and the republic was saved. As the storm-cloud 
rolled away, the ship of state was seen riding proud- 
ly over the subsiding billows, and it was the hand 
of Mr. Clay which grasped the helm and guided it 
into the open sea. Illustrious man ! he had twice 
saved the republic. The North gave up, and the 

Ee 



434 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

South no longer held back. Even Mr. Clay's ene- 
mies were at peace with him. Mr. Handolph was 
seated in the senate-chamber, lingering upon the thea- 
tre of his former fame, when Mr. Clay rose to speak 
upon the Comj^romise Bill. " Help me up," he said 
to his half-brother, Mr. Tucker; "I have come here 
to hear that voice." At the close of his speech, Mr. 
Clay walked to where Mr. Randolph was seated, and, 
grasping each other's hands, they lost all traces of 
their former feud. 

Mr. Clay now belonged more than ever to his coun- 
try. He stood upon a proud eminence, and the grat- 
itude of the people for his services rose to enthusiasm. 
His name mingled with the tones of patriotic exulta- 
tion which hailed the adjustment of a controversy so 
portentous all over the country, and wherever he 
traveled, he was greeted with acclamations, and hon- 
ored with the noblest triumphal progress which ever 
cheered a statesman. He had realized the reward so 
exquisitely expressed in those lines of Gray : 

" The applause of listening senates to command, 
The threats of pain and ruin to despise — 
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 

And read his history in a nation's eyes." 

Mr. Clay's views in regard to the public lands 
were matured after a thorough examination of the 
subject, and he succeeded in carrying through both 
houses of Congress a bill which promised the best 
results, and which was only defeated by the action 
of the President, General Jackson, who retained it in 
his possession until after the adjournment of Con- 
gress, and it, of course, failed to become a law. 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 435 

Mr. Clay's views as to the currency were also well 
matured ; and it was his opinion that a national 
bank, in some form, was important, if not essential 
to the prosperity of the country. Congress agreed 
with him, and passed a hill for the re-charter of the 
Bank of the United States, which the President met 
with his veto. Then began the fierce contest between 
General Jackson and the bank — a contest which 
ended in the destruction of the bank, but which in- 
volved the country in the heaviest commercial disas- 
ters. An intense excitement pervaded Congress. 
Mr. Clay led the opposition to that memorable ad- 
ministration, and a more courageous or powerful 
leader has never appeared in any parliamentary body. 
The President, remarkable for the energy of his char- 
acter and the strength of his will, with a personal 
popularity which seemed boundless, and at the head 
of a powerful party, marshaled all his forces, and 
hurled them against the opposing ranks ; but he was 
confronted by a leader as full of courage as himself, 
and whose steady soul nothing could intimidate — a 
leader who roused the Senate to the loftiest spirit of 
resistance to executive power, and who succeeded in 
spreading upon the records of that august body a 
resolution condemning the course of the President. 

On the last day of March, 1842, Mr. Clay rose to 
take a formal, and, as he suj)posed, a final leave of 
that body. The chamber was thronged with repre- 
sentatives, foreign ministers, and others who had the 
privilege of entering it, and the gallery was filled 
with ladies, all eager to hear once more the tones of 
a voice unrivaled in its richness and power, and to 



436 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

witness a scene whicli was to be an epoch in the an- 
nals of the country. It has been immortalized, not 
only by being sj^read upon the pages which record 
the history of the times, but the pencil of the painter 
has sketched the scene with life-like fidelity. In 
looking upon the j^ictm^e, the great scenes of English 
history rush upon the mind, and the event is asso- 
ciated with the last speech of the Earl of Chatham in 
the House of Lords. The speech, full of dignity and 
pathos, moved the Senate to tears. As the last 
words were uttered, "And now, Mr, President and 
senators, I bid you all a long, a lasting, and a friend- 
ly farewell, " he resumed his seat amid a stillness as 
unbroken as if the living mass which thronged the 
senate-chamber had been the ideal creation of a paint- 
er. After an interval, Mr, Preston, of South Caro- 
lina, moved that the Senate adjourn without proceed- 
ing to any business, and it did so, Mr, Clay stej^ped 
into the area, when a senator, who, like himself, had 
earned an imperishable fame in the service of his 
country, but between whom and the great statesman 
who had just taken leave of the Senate an estrange- 
ment had grown up in trying and stormy times, ap- 
proached him. It was Mr, Calhoun, Their inter- 
course had been interrupted for five years, but now 
they grasped each other's hands and exchanged sal- 
utations which were prompted by their great hearts. 
Early in the spring of 1844, Mr. Clay made an ex- 
tensive tour through the Southern States, It was 
well known that he was to be the Whig candidate 
for the presidency, yet his opinions upon all political 
questions which interested the country were express- 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OP HENRY CLAY. 437 

ed with perfect unreserve. It became known that a 
negotiation was in progress for the annexation of 
Texas to the United States, and Mr. Clay, without 
hesitation, announced his decided opposition to the 
scheme. He addressed a letter to the people, depict- 
ing in strong terms the dangers which surrounded 
the question ; for his was a nature too honest and too 
proud to conceal any opinion for the sake of acquiring 
power. Texas was in a revolutionary state ; her in- 
dependence had not been acknowledged by Mexico, 
and Mr. Clay declared his unconquerable opposition 
to any plan of annexation Avhich did not embrace 
that republic as a party. With a full knowledge of 
his opinions, he was nominated by the Whigs for 
the j^residency with an enthusiasm which promised a 
brilliant victory. For some months it seemed to the 
American people that Mr. Clay would be elected by 
acclamation. His splendid reputation, his illustrious 
public services, his acknowledged ability and expe- 
rience as a statesman, the popular confidence which 
he enjoyed so largely, all seemed to render his success 
certain ; but, as the canvass advanced, it was perceived 
that his opinions in regard to Texas alienated friends, 
and rendered doubtful a contest which had opened 
for him so auspiciously. Mr. Van Buren, who had 
been looked to as the opposing candidate, had been 
set aside by the Democratic Convention on account 
of his declared opposition to the annexation of Tex- 
as, and Mr. Polk, an ardent friend of the measure, re- 
ceived the nomination. The result is well known. 
The canvass turned upon the Texas question; the 
popular feeling in favor of the measure rose so high 



438 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

as to surmount every otlier consideration, and Mr. 
Clay, with his brilliant personal qualities and his 
great public services, failed to reach the presidency. 
Coriolanus was refused the consulship of the people, 
though his scars had for a time influenced them in 
his favor. 

Mr. Clay re-entered the Senate on the third day of 
December, 1849, and was welcomed to a seat in that 
body by the assembled senators from every state, and 
by the voice of the American people. The state of 
the country induced him to return to a seat which he 
had relinquished, as he suj^posed, forever. The re- 
sults of the annexation of Texas, which he had so 
clearly foreseen, and against which he had warned 
the country, had occurred, and he came, in the midst 
of the dangers which surrounded the republic, to res- 
cue and to save it, or to perish with it. 

The war Avitli Mexico had been brought to a close 
by a treaty which left us in possession of new and 
extensive territories. Portentous questions grew out 
of the S2:)lendid acquisition. 

The discovery of exhaustless beds of gold in Cali- 
fornia attracted thousands to its distant shores, and 
a bold, intelligent, and spirited people, finding them- 
selves on the coast of the Pacific without a regular 
government, organized a state, and applied to be ad- 
mitted into the Union. Territorial governments 
were demanded for the protection of the people 
spreading over the vast regions now known as New 
Mexico and Utah. Texas insisted uj)on the recog- 
nition of her boundaries, stretching to the Kio Grande 
del Norte and running far into New Mexico. To 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 439 

complicate these great subjects of legislation still far- 
ther, an alarming question, which has more than once 
threatened the disruption of the government, sprang 
up — the question of slavery. The people of Califor- 
nia had, by their Constitution, prohibited the intro- 
duction of slaves within the limits of the large state 
carved out of the new territory, and it was proposed 
to prohibit their introduction into the Territories of 
New Mexico and Utah by an act of Congress. The 
anti-slavery sentiment of the country was roused into 
new activity by these momentous questions, and it 
became more imperious and exacting in its demands. 
It announced that the limits of slavery were forever 
fixed. As if these disturbing elements were insuffi- 
cient to agitate the country and endanger the govern- 
ment, they were inflamed yet more by an attempt to 
confine Texas within narrower limits than those to 
which that young and gallant state was entitled — 
even leaving out of view her clami upon the mag- 
nanimity of the United States — and to bring about a 
collision between her people and the troops of the 
general government by precipitating a decision ad- 
verse to her claims. 

The convulsion that shook the country while Con- 
gress was engaged in settling these momentous ques- 
tions is too recent to make it necessary to describe it. 
The ocean, when it has been swept by a tempest, 
even when the skies have cleared up, continues to 
heave its billows and to send its surges against the 
resounding shore, and we find ourselves yet in the 
midst of political events which remind us of the 
strength and fury of the storm with which the coun- 



440 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

try was so lately visited. But we to-day send up, 
from hearts • glowing with gratitude, our fervent 
thanks to Almighty God that the heavens are cloud- 
less; that the rej^ublic covers with its protecting ea- 
gles kindred states touching on the one side the At- 
lantic and on the other the Pacific waters, and that 
its great standard, hailed all over the world as the 
banner of freedom, still displays upon its ample folds 
the gorgeous emblem of the Union which constitutes 
us one people. Mr. Clay is eminently entitled to the 
merit of the success of the great measures which res- 
cued the country from its perils. He brought for- 
ward, at an early day, his Rej^ort and Bill from the 
Committee of Thirteen, which proposed to admit Cal- 
ifornia as a state into the Union ; to establish Terri- 
torial governments for New Mexico and Utah with- 
out any prohibition of slavery, and to tender propo- 
sals to Texas for the establishment of her western and 
northern boundaries which could not fail to be satis- 
factory to that state — measures which he continued 
to advocate, with unabated ardor and exhaustless en- 
ergy, up to the day of their triumphant passage 
through both houses of Congress. The great task 
which he had undertaken upon entering the Senate 
was accomplished. He had saved the republic for 
the third time. It was the boast of Antony over the 
body of Caesar, that, although he had fallen under 
the avenging dagger of Brutus, he had thrice refused 
a kingly crown. How transcendently does the form 
of Mr. Clay rise above that of the Roman when Ave 
fix our eyes uj^on him in the last great act of his ca- 
reer, and see him as he stands in the sublime attitude 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 441 

of an American senator who had thrice saved his 
country from civil war ! Themistocles earned imper- 
ishable fame by the victory which he achieved over 
the Persians in the Bay of Salamis, but what was 
such a victory, brilliant as it was, compared with that 
great civic achievement of Mr. Clay which cro^^med 
his long and illustrious life ? 

After the accomplishment of his last great task, 
Mr. Clay's health gradually declined. He returned 
to Washington, at the opening of the late session of 
Congress, to defend the measures to which he had 
consecrated his last days. But the great soul which 
had so long urged his enfeebled body to j^atriotic 
tasks could no longer command his failing strength. 
Unable to take j)art in the deliberations of the Sen- 
ate, he remained almost constantly in his chamber. 
The hope of visiting Ashland, and of closing his days 
in the sacred retirement of his home, for some time 
cheered him. He resigned his seat in the Senate, 
intending to quit Washington at the close of the ses- 
sion of Congress. Spring came, with its genial influ- 
ence reviving the face of Nature, but it brought with 
it no restoration to the declining powers of Mr. Clay. 

The hope of revisiting Ashland was relinquished, 
and he calmly awaited the stroke of death. In the 
summer of 1847 he had become a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, and he found now in 
his chamber, about which the shadoAvs of death were 
beginning to close, the cheering and sustaining power 
of an immortal hope. The dying statesman gradu- 
ally withdrew his thoughts from the affairs of this 
world. He was never more to stand in the senate- 



442 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

chamber — never again to sway the passions of as- 
sembled thousands by his resistless eloquence. The 
eyes which had flashed with j)atriotic fire were filled 
now with the mild radiance of the heaven to which 
they were turned. He spoke of his family, his friends, 
and his country, and said to a friend, "I am not 
afraid to die, sir. I have faith, hope, and some con- 
fidence. I do not think any man can be entirely cer- 
tain in regard to his future state, but I have an abid- 
ing trust in the merits and mediation of our Savior." 
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was adminis- 
tered to him, and he meekly received those emblems 
of a death out of which spring our immortal hopes. 
He expired tranquilly on the 29th of June, in the 
76th year of his age. 

" Statesman, yet friend to truth, of soul sincere, 
Of action faithful, and in honor clear. 
Who broke no promise, served no private end, 
Who gained no title, and who lost no friend ; 
Ennobled by himself, by all approved. 
Praised, wept, and honored by the land he loved." 

The announcement of Mr. Clay's death produced 
throughout the whole country the deepest sensation. 
It struck most hearts as if the intelligence of the 
death of a personal friend had reached them, and the 
whole people rose up to -pay such honors to his mem- 
ory as had never been accorded to any statesman of 
this country. 

The popular enthusiasm which was accustomed to 
greet him in Ids travels, was now converted into a 
pervading grief, which covered the multitudes who 
thronged about his honored remains as they were 
borne to the tomb, with the habiliments of a mourn- 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 443 

ing distinguished as much for its depth and sincerity 
as for its solemn magnificence, 

Mr. Clay's cast of character was American — dis- 
tinctly American. It was his aim to develop the 
resources of his country, and to elevate it to a height 
of prosperity and gi'andeur never before reached by 
any nation in ancient or modern times. His plans 
were bold and comprehensive, looking to the happi- 
ness and glory of the whole republic rather than to 
the advancement of any particular section. He com- 
prehended the complex character of our government ; 
and while he left local interests to the protection of 
the states where they existed, he devoted his energies 
to the support of great measures, whose success he 
deemed essential to the full development of the 
boundless elements of wealth and j)ower which the 
nation possessed. He has been charged with a pur- 
pose to enrich one section of the country at the ex- 
pense of another, but no man ever less deserved the 
charge. He could not belong to a section, but he 
gave his great faculties to the cause of his country — 
his whole country. 

The lofty summit upon which he stood as a states- 
man enabled him to see the country in its broadest 
extent ; and while many stood upon a lower level — 
would see only the narrow district to which they 
happened to belong — his eyes swept the remotest 
verge of the vast domain embraced by our govern- 
ment. Fortunately, most of the great questions 
which have arrayed the American people in oppos- 
ing parties have been national and not sectional. A 
settled geographical division of parties, such as on 



444 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

one or two occasions we have witnessed, would be 
fatal to the republic. 

Mr. Clay was, beyond a question, the noblest illus- 
tration of a national statesman which his country 
has ever produced. He kept his views rigidly within 
the limits of the Constitution, but within those limits 
all his faculties were employed in a steady and he- 
roic struggle to give success to systems embracing 
the interests of the American people. 

His American System was an illustration of the 
breadth and nationality of his views. The South 
opposed it generally, but even here opinion was di- 
vided in regard to it. The opinion, however, that its 
tendency was to foster the manufacturing enterprises 
of the North at the expense of the planting interest 
of the South gradually gained ground with us, and 
the utmost hostility existed against it in most of the 
Southern States. But Mr. Clay's aim never was for 
a moment to depress the one section and elevate the 
other. He believed that the system would be so ad- 
justed by a wise discrimination in fixing the duties 
on imports as to result in an actual benefit to the 
whole country, making us independent of foreign es- 
tablishments, preventing the balance of trade against 
us with other countries, and securing to the Southern 
people a domestic market for their products above 
that which they could find elsewhere. His magnifi- 
cent system of Internal Improvements, limited to ob- 
jects strictly national, was also the result of the com- 
prehensive views which characterized him as a states- 
man. If he had administered the government, it 
would not have been necessary to associate any one 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 445 

with liim to keep the supreme executive power from 
swerving from a national course. The two councils 
of Rome did not look more steadily to the glory of 
the empire than he would have looked to the glory 
of the republic. Mr. Clay's nationality was the re- 
sult of a profound study of the nature of our govern- 
ment — of the character of the American people. 

He contended for what seemed to him a just con- 
struction of the Constitution, and he felt that, while 
a narrower interpretation of its meaning might save 
the government from occasional abuses, it would, at 
the same time, deny to it the powers which it really 
possessed, and render that a feeble and an inefficient 
system which was designed to be a great and benefi- 
cent one. 

Some of our statesmen, apprehending danger from 
the power of the central government, have steadily 
resisted its growth, and, like Patrick Henry, have 
sought to hedge it in, as if it were a formidable des- 
potism. With them the President is a monarch 
likely to become a despot. Others have desired to 
usurp the rights of the states, and to build up a pow- 
erful consolidated government. 

Mr. Clay escaped both these extremes, and planted 
himself upon ground which the eminent French 
statesman, Casimir Perrier, would have pronounced 
le juste milieu. He recognized the rights of the 
states, and he claimed for the federal government its 
full power. Mr. Clay has been charged with ambi- 
tion. That he deserved to attain power it would be 
useless to deny. "Where is the statesman of noble 
aims and crreat abilities who does not desire it ? The 



446 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

remark of Burke is a philosophical truth, "Ambition 
is the malady of every extensive genius." But Mr. 
Clay's ambition was pure and generous. 

He never sought to attain power by unworthy 
means ; he never swerved from the direct path of 
duty to conciliate public favor. His sympathies with 
the jDeople were full and sincere, but he never pan- 
dered to their passions or bent before their clamors. 
His opinions upon all subjects Avere frankly express- 
ed ; he disdained concealment. He never surrender- 
ed his own independent sentiments, but courageously 
encountered the fiercest opposition to them, whether 
that opposition was presented by executive power, or 
by the representatives of the j)eople, or by the people 
themselves. His remark, made to his friend, Mr. 
Preston, of South Carolina, revealed his character. 
In rejily to a suggestion that the opinion which he 
was about to avow on a certain occasion might affect 
his position before the people, and endanger his elec- 
tion to the presidency, he exclaimed, "I would rather 
be right than be President.*" The heroic sentiment 
will become immortal. Mr. Clay did not exhibit the 
Poman sternness which characterized Mr. Calhoun, 
yet he possessed-firmness in the highest degree. No 
man could plant himself more resolutely in defense 
of a position than Mr. Clay. Like Fitz-James, he 
would have met the whole band of Roderick Dhu 
without the yielding of a muscle. 

Yet no statesman of our country was ever so con- 
ciliatory. Whatever may have been his ambition, it 
always gave way before the call of his country. He 
would meet, unmoved, any dangers which threatened 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 447 

him personally, but he relinquished, without reluct- 
ance, his most cherished opinions when the welfare 
of his country demanded the sacrifice. 

When urging upon the Senate the adoption of his 
Compromise Bill for adjusting the perilous contest 
with South Carolina, he said, "If I had yielded my- 
self to the dictates of a cold, calculating, and pruden- 
tial ]3ublic policy, I would have stood still and un- 
moved. I might even have silently gazed on the rag- 
ing storm, enjoyed its loudest thunders, and left those 
who were charged with the care of the vessel of state 
to conduct it as they could." But he hastened to re- 
store harmony to a distracted land. Mr. Clay*'s at- 
tachment to the Union was profound and unconquer- 
able. His failure to reach the highest office in the 
country never alienated his affections. While others 
enjoyed the supreme power, he never ceased to labor 
for the good of Bome. No personal success could 
have compensated him if his elevation to power had 
endangered the perpetuity of the government. 

He believed our S3^stem to be capable of vast ex- 
pansion ; and when he saw our institutions seated on 
the Pacific shores, he insisted that Congress should 
promptly receive into the Union the State of Califor- 
nia. A republic covering the continent with its in- 
stitutions, and gathering under one common govern- 
ment the mighty population spread from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific, was the vision Avhicli filled his heart 
with exultation as he looked out upon his country 
for the last time. He sought to strengthen the gov- 
ernment, not by usurpations of power, but by meas- 
ures Avhich would bind the remotest parts of the coun- 



448 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

try in willing and indestructible political bands. He 
preferred to carry his measures by enlisting in their 
support men of all parties, rather than to press them 
uj)on the country by the mere power of disciplined 
numbers. He saw clearly all the aspects of every 
question; and while his OAvn courage was never in- 
timidated, nor his resolute purpose ever shaken, he 
was at all times ready to modify his measures, so far 
as they could be modified without impairing their 
efficiency, or sacrificing the principles upon which 
they were based, that he might make them acceptable 
to those who did not agree with him. As a parlia- 
mentary leader, Mr. Clay has never been equaled in 
this country. He combined with great abilities that 
faculty so important to success in political life — tact. 
His abilities commanded the attention of the polit- 
ical bodies in Avhose debates he took part, and his 
tact enabled him to carry his measures. 

He was the boldest of all our statesmen. Wheth- 
er in the House of Bepresentatives sustaining an ad- 
ministration, or in the Senate opposing the govern- 
ment, his courage never sunk for a moment, and his 
crest rose still higher when leading the opposition 
than it did when defending its powers. 

He attacked the government, however powerfully 
intrenched, with as much vigor as Richard Coeur de 
Lion did the castle of Front-de-Boeuf, when he thun- 
dered against its gates with his battle-axe, amid the 
missiles Avhich were showered upon him from its de- 
fenders, regarding tliem no more than if they had 
been feathers or the thistle's down ; and his eye, flash- 
ins: alonsr the waverino; columns of his allies, fired 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 449 

them with his own indomitable spirit. For years 
he presented to General Jackson a front which never 
blenched, and he defied his boundless popular power 
with a steady and heroic firmness which won for him 
the admiration of friends and foes, and presented to 
the country the noblest illustration of the august 
character of an American senator which has ever 
been witnessed. 

He possessed the qualities which would have made 
him a transcendently great military leader : the high 
courage — the quick perception — the comprehensive 
view of details scattered over a wide field — the de- 
cision which adopts, without hesitation, the true 
course of action — the j)ower to infuse his own ardor 
into the bosoms of those about him, and the faculty 
of inspiring the followers of his standard with un- 
doubted confidence in his abilities. 

It is understood that Mr. Madison would have 
placed him at the head of the army in the last war 
with England if he could have been spared from the 
House of Representatives. 

Mr. Clay's intellectual powers pre-eminently fitted 
him for a parliamentary career. Without the mass- 
ive strength of Mr. Webster, or the condensed and 
logical force of Mr. Calhoun, he was more efficient 
than either. His mind was not in the least degree 
metaj^hysical ; it was altogether practical, rapid, and 
direct. He was capable of profound and patient 
analysis, and he has, in some of his more elaborate 
speeches, displayed this faculty with high success ; 
but he preferred to present the great features of a 
subject, that it might be seen whole, rather than to 

Fp 



450 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

pursue its remote and less striking relations. His 
mind was characterized by originalit}^, power, and 
comprehensiveness. His resources were inexhaust- 
ible. The measures which Mr. Clay conceived and 
brought before Congress displayed statesmanship of 
the very highest order, and his fame will rest upon 
them as firmly as a mountain, lifting its head to the 
heavens, stands uj^on its granite base. 

As an Orator, Mr. Clay stood unrivaled among 
the statesmen of our times ; and if the power of a 
statesman is to be measured by the control which he 
exerts over an audience, he will take rank among the 
most illustrious men who, in ancient or modern times, 
have decided great questions by resistless eloquence. 

Mr. Calhoun Avas the finest type of the pure Greek 
intellect Avhich this country has ever produced. His 
speeches resemble Grecian sculpture, with all the pu- 
rity and hardness of marble, while they show that 
the chisel Avas guided by the hand of a master. De- 
mosthenes transcribed the history of Thucydides 
eight times, that he might acquire the strength and 
majesty of his style, and Mr. Calhoun had evidently 
studied the orations of the great Athenian Avith equal 
fidelity. He had much of his force and ardor, and 
his bearing was so full of dignity that it Avas easy to 
fancy, when you heard him, that you Avere listening 
to an oration from the lips of a Koman senator, Avho 
had formed his style in the severe schools of Greece. 
Mr. "Webster's oratory reaches the highest pitch of 
grandeur. He combines the pure philosophical fac- 
ulty of investigation Avhich characterized the Greek 
mind Avith the athletic power and majesty Avhich be- 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 451 

longed to the Roman style. There is in his orations 
a blended strength and beauty surpassing any thing 
to be found in ancient or modern productions. He 
stands like a statue of Hercules wrouo-ht out of gold. 
He has been sometimes called the Demosthenes of 
this country, but the attributes Avhich he displayed 
are not those which belonged to the Athenian orator. 
His speeches display the same power and beauty, 
and equal, if they do not surpass, in consummate 
ability, the noblest orations of Demosthenes ; but he 
wants the A^ehemence, the boldness, the impetuosity 
of the orator who wielded the fierce democracy of 
Atliens at his will, and who, in his impassioned ha- 
rangues, "shook the Arsenal, and fulmined over 
Greece." 

Mr. Clay's oratory differed from that of Mr. Web- 
ster and of Mr. Calhoun, and it was more effective 
than that of either of his contemporaries. Less philo- 
sophical than the one, and less majestic than the oth- 
er, he surpassed them both in the sAvay which he ex- 
erted over the assemblies which he addressed. Clear, 
convincing, impassioned, and powerful, he s^^oke the 
language of truth in its most commanding tones, and 
the deductions of reason uttered from his lips seem- 
ed to have caught the glow of inspiration. 

Lord Brougham thinks that the ancient orators 
fell nearly as far short of the modern in the sub- 
stance of their orations, as they surpass them in their 
composition. 

He attributes this to the character of modern as- 
semblies, which are places of business, where jDractical 
questions are discussed, and where the audience must 



452 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OP HENRY CLAY. 

be convinced, and not merely entertained. Mr. Clay 
was eminently successful in addressing such assem- 
blies. His large views, his sterling sense, the energy 
of his character, the earnestness of his manner, the 
sympathy between his mind and his body, gave him 
an ascendency over the intellect and the passions 
never displayed by any other American statesman. 
His form Avas tall and commanding ; his voice was 
unrivaled for its compass and richness ; and when he 
rose to animation in speaking, his countenance was 
lighted up with a glow which shed a lustre upon his 
whole person. His sensibility was deep, and some- 
times disj^jlayed itself in the most affecting manner. 
In the debates of the Compromise measures of the 
last Congress, it became proper for him, as a senator, 
to allude to his son who fell at Buena Vista. He 
was for a moment overcome with emotion, and, put- 
ting his hand before his eyes, he sought in vain to 
repress the tears which gushed from them. These 
elements constituted him the prince of orators ; and 
whether before the Senate, or in the midst of the peo- 
ple in their great assemblies, he asserted and main- 
tained a dominion which none could dispute with 
him. He realized Mr. Webster's description of ora- 
tory : ' ' The clear conception outrunning the deduc- 
tions of logic; the high purpose ;- the firm resolve; 
the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming 
from the eye, informing every feature, and urging 
the whole man onward, right onward, to his object : 
this, this is eloquence, or, rather, it is something 
greater and higher than eloquence ; it is action — 
noble, sublime, god-like action." His noblest efforts 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 453 

were invested with a fiery splendor; and he rushed 
onward in his impetuous career, like an ancient 
hero, upon poised feet, his formidable spear lifted 
in his strong right hand, the wheels of his chariot 
glowing from the velocity of the onset, and their 
scythes sweeping doAvn the adversaries that stood in 
his way. 

In conversation Mr. Clay excelled. Always ready, 
sometimes playful, often brilliant, there was a fas- 
cination in his manner which di'ew around him 
friends outside of the circle of his political associates, 
and his frankness and generosity gave an indescriba- 
ble charm to social life. 

" He was a man, take him for all in all, 
We shall not look upon his like again." 

Yet, with all these brilliant personal qualities, 
Henry Clay never became the President of the United 
States. In looking back to the times in which Mr. 
Clay, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Webster lived, the suc- 
ceeding generations will be at a loss to account for 
the fact that neither of them ever attained the high- 
est goal of their ambition. In Rome they would 
have divided the consulship. In England they Avould 
have administered the government, and have received 
the highest aristocratic distinctions. In this repub- 
lic they could never reach the highest post in the 
government. Two of the great triumvirate have 
passed away from the world ; their course is run. 
The third yet lingers upon the field of his glory, but 
without the slightest prospect of reaching the pres- 
idency. Indeed, that splendid orb which has so 
long lighted our heavens is rapidly descending to- 



454 THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 

ward the horizon, and will soon disappear from it 
forever. 

The theory of our government requires a first-rate 
man to be placed at the head of the administration. 
In England the sovereign power is vested in a#hered- 
itary monarch. His capacity is a matter of no great 
moment ; the first minister of the crown is responsi- 
ble for the government. But with us, the sovereign- 
ty resides with the people, and the President ought 
to be a man of the highest order, for he holds the 
same relation to our government that the prime min- 
ister holds to the British government. 

In reviewing Mr. Clay's career, the wonder is 
that he could have failed to become President. The 
statue of Brutus left out of the procession will 
awaken inquiry as to the cause. Cromwell is not 
alloAved to rank with the sovereigns of England, al- 
though he controlled the government as Protector, 
and gave the country the wisest and most brilliant 
administration which it ever enjoyed. Henry Clay, 
who has impressed his great character upon the in- 
stitutions of this country, never became its president. 
But it is j^erhaps well that he died without reaching 
that station. 

His immortal words, "I would rather be right 
than be President,'' will thrill upon the hearts of 
the statesmen of the country, and animate them to a 
nobler aim than a mere lust of power. 

They will strive to serve their country, and to 
bear with them to the gi'ave the consciousness of de- 
serving its honors, even if the laurel should never 
encircle their brows. 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY CLAY. 455 

Mr. Clay's fame is imperishable ; no office could 
have added to its towering grandeur, or have shed 
upon it any additional lustre. It was becoming that 
he should die, as he had lived, "The Great Com- 
moner." 



DANIEL WEBSTER— HIS GENIUS AND 
CHARACTER 

AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE LITERARY CLUB AND CITIZENS OF MONTGOM- 
ERY, ALABAMA, DECEMBER, 1854. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — We 
should read the history of the rise and fall of an em- 
pire to little purpose if we failed to discover the 
causes which produced its prosperity or sapped its 
strength, and it would be an idle task to recount the 
events of a great life if Ave could not comprehend the 
elements which constituted its greatness. 

When a great man passes away from the world, 
we review his career, we linger over the grand pas- 
sages of his life — his adversities find his triumphs ; 
but, while we desire to know what he has performed, 
we are far more deeply interested in discerning what 
he has thought and what he has felt. The external 
life, whatever may be its splendor, interests us less 
than the great soul itself We study great historic 
periods not merely that we may trace the changing 
fortunes of a dynasty or the eventful progress of a 
nation, but we seek to read in the facts spread out 
before us the philosophy which they teach. 

We follow the hero from the battle-field and the 
statesman from the senate-chamber that we may 
study the man ; we seek to analyze him, and to read 
the soul which makes him what he really is — which 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 457 

imparts to his life the heroism and the grandeur 
which the world has discovered and applauded. 
Nothina- interests us so much as character. 

It is our purpose this evening to exhibit, so far as 
we can in so brief a period, the character of a great 
statesman, who, as Clarendon says of the Duke of 
Buckingham, lately rode in the troubled and bois- 
terous waters of public affairs as admiral, and to pre- 
sent the qualities which, in their grand assemblage, 
gave him his pre-eminence among the men of our 
times. 

The traveler who visits the Alps feels his concep- 
tions of the sublime heightened as he beholds that 
great- mountain range lifting its ice-clad summits to 
the cloud-region. The soul, exalted and ennobled, 
enjoys a glorious communion with nature. 

But Avhen the glance is turned upon Mont Blanc, 
standing in solitary grandeur, its head crowned with 
everlasting glaciers, and towering above all surround- 
ing objects, we recognize it at once as a monarch, 
peerless amid the colossal forms which stand about 
it, and unapproachable in its eternal majesty. 

So, in exploring the civil history of our country, 
when the eye glances along the line of illustrious men 
who have lived and died in the service of the repub- 
lic, it rests upon the form of Daniel Webster as its 
grand proportions stand out before us against the 
sky of the past. 

Of his services to his ^^a?'^?/ we have nothing to 
say, but of the majesty of his intellect, of the pro- 
ductions of his pen, of the power of his eloquence — 
greater than any which the world has heard since it 



458 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

listened to the impetuous Athenian — of the grandeur 
of his character we wish to speak. 

As we approach Athens from the sea, we look 
upon the tomb of Themistocles, a splendid tribute to 
his memory reared by his countrjonen, who during 
his life disputed as to his merits, but who felt that 
after his death they might all claim a share in his 
fame. "While standing upon the shore and looking 
upon the sea, where his great exploits had been per- 
formed, all was forgotten but the heroic life which 
they had witnessed. Not in New England alone — 
not in Massachusetts only, w^hose history her illustri- 
ous senator said the world knew by heart — not in 
that extensive and powerful part of the confederacy 
known as the North is the fame of Webster to be 
cherished ; it is a heritage Avhich belongs to the whole 
nation, and men may be j^roud of it every where, 
from the forests of Maine to that distant Californian 
coast washed by the Pacific wave. 

How refreshing it is to escape from the dust, and 
the clamor, and the fierce hatreds of the political 
arena, to breathe an atmosphere fresh and vigorous, 
and to bathe our souls in the pure and pellucid wa- 
ters of literature ! In this clear air we may see ob- 
jects in their true proportions. 

Mr. Webster's youth was passed amid the rugged 
scenes of nature — forests, mountains, and snows. 
Something of the grandeur of his own nature may 
have been derived from this early communion with 
great external objects. He grew up in a stern 
school : labor was a law of life — labor in the fields, ■ 
labor in the schools, labor every where. His early 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 459 

poetry was the "Essay on Man" and the hymns of 
Watts. 

It is an affecting picture to see that boy, in his fa- 
ther's fields, sharing his daily toils ; striving to pre- 
pare the soil to receive the grain, or to save the 
products of the farm in harvest-time ; rising to be- 
hold the sun come forth in the east, or watching the 
closino; in of a dark Xew Eno;land winter nif^rht, as it 
descended upon the hills w^hich stood about his hum- 
ble paternal roof. 

In a snow-storm a sleiofh was seen ascendino; a hill 
in the State of New Hampshire, in which were seat- 
ed a man already mature, of fine, bold face, and a 
youth of generous countenance. 

The elder traveler addresses some words to the 
younger which seem to move him, for he presently 
rests his head upon the shoulder of his companion, 
and his eyes are filled w4th tears. 

The travelers were Ebenezer "Webster and his son 
Daniel, and the father had just announced to his son 
his purpose to send him to college. Daniel, over- 
come with emotion at the opening of such a career, 
and at the thought of the sacrifice which his fa- 
ther is about to make for him, can not restrain his 
tears. 

There the ardor of a great soul broke forth, and 
the eye of the young eagle flashed as it turned for the 
first time toward the sun. 

It is not our purpose to trace the career of Mr. 
Webster, but our wish is to present a view of the 
man as he so lately stood among us ; to analyze his 
character ; to study the great elements which enter- 



460 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

ed into it ; and to discover where the secret of his 
strength was hid. 

A really great man is the grandest object which 
this world ever exhibits. The heavens in their mag- 
nificence — the ocean in its sublime immensity — 
mountains standing firm upon their granite founda- 
tions, all arc less imposing than a living man in the 
possession of his highest faculties. 

Demosthenes uro;ino: the Athenians to march 
against Philip interests us more than all Greece. 
Hannibal scaling the Alps with his victorious le- 
gions is a sublimer object than the Alps themselves. 
Marius seated upon the ruins of Carthage makes us 
forget the fall of an empire in contemplating the for- 
tunes of a man. Nelson upon the deck of the Vic- 
tory, with the star glittering upon his breast, is a 
grander sight than the two hostile fleets. Napoleon 
at Waterloo, riding to the brow of the hill at the 
head of the Imperial Guard when they were to make 
their last charge upon the British lines, is an object 
of higher interest than all the stern array of battle 
beside. Lord Chatham sinking in the House of 
Lords is the noblest object in the British empire ; 
and Washington crossing the Delaware at night, 
amid the crashing ice, fixes our attention in the midst 
of the dread magnificence of the winter scene, and 
we look upon him as we Avould upon an avenging arch- 
angel going forth to smite the invading army. Our 
country has produced some great men. They glow 
in the heaven of the past like stars in the firmament, 
and in that splendid constellation we see Webster in 
full-orbed glory. In history, as in the heavens, one 
star differeth from another star in glory. 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 461 

It is not always that the majesty of the intellect is 
symbolized in the external man, but in the case of 
Webster it was so. His appearance was nothing 
less than gi'and. In the midst of his peers in the 
Senate, he stood like a tower, in shape and gesture 
f)roudly eminent ; or he sat, amid its august delibera- 
tions, as if upon his broad shoulders alone he could 
bear the weight of the government. His head rose 
with an ample swell, which reminded one of that 
dome which Michael Angelo hung in the heavens. 
His eyes were large, dark, and with that fathomless 
depth which gives so. fine an expression to the face. 
These, with his dark complexion and hair, presented 
at all times a spectacle which would fix the attention 
if seen in any assemblage of men ; but it was when 
he was roused by some great theme, or fired by some 
important debate, that he rose into an asj^ect of 
Olympian power and grandeur. Then we could com- 
prehend Milton's description of the style of Demos- 
thenes : 

" He shook the Arsenal, 
And fulmincd over Greece." 

A thunder-cloud seemed at times to hang upon his 
brow, but as he advanced in his argument, something 
like a smile, resembling a ray of sun-light, would pass 
over his features. 

No grander spectacle could be Avitnessed than that 
which he presented when his mighty intellect was in 
full play, and the great passions of his nature glowed 
in his countenance. It was like looking upon a great 
mountain, in whose depths the molten ore, under 
the intense heat of internal fires, begins to flow. 



462 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

and at length pours out in a. broad stream of living 
flame. 

There was a great deal of poetry in Mr. Webster's 
nature, and it was this that gave him his pre-emi- 
nence as a writer and an orator. 

There can be no true eloquence which is not in 
some way allied to poetry, nor can there be true 
greatness of any kind which is the work of the head ; 
the heart must originate it, or it is no greatness at 
all. Practical men must be, if they would achieve 
great exploits in this latter half of the nineteenth 
century ; but the curse of our times is a utilitarian 
philosophy, falsely so called, which would ignore the 
heart within the living man, make him forget the 
green fields of his boyhood, the sweet recollections 
of home, the whole face of nature, and every thing 
but Mammon, 

" The least erected spirit that fell from heaven ;" 

for even in heaven his looks and thoughts 

" Were always downward bent, admiring more 
The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold, 
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed 
In vision beatific." 

Mr. Webster's heart was as large as his under- 
standing. Even Theodore Parker, the most grace- 
less, perhaps, of all living men, though a man of im- 
mense genius ; a man who talks of the Bible, and yet 
denies its inspiration ; who, in the name of a disciple 
of Christ, seeks to darken the divine halo which en- 
circles his brow; a man who, aspiring to be a free 
thinker, spreads his adventurous sails to the winds, 
and, losing sight of the heavens and the earth, has 
been greatly tossed by the waves, and who, in thick 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 463 

darkness himself, seeks to extinguish the lights which 
guide other men to heaven — Theodore Parker, whose 
attack upon the character of Webster since his death 
is without a parallel for ferocity in the whole range 
of letters, from their dawn till now — even he admits 
that Mr, Webster, "in his earlier life, was fond of 
children, loved their j^rattle and their play. They, 
too, were fond of him, came to him as dust of iron to 
a loadstone, climbed on his back, or, when he lay 
down, lay on his limbs and also slept." 

He says too, "He was fond of nature, loving New 
Hampshire mountain scenery. He loved gardening, 
the purest of human pleasures. He was a farmer, 
and took a countryman's delight in country things — 
in loads of hay, in trees, in turnips, and the noble 
Indian corn, in monstrous swine. He had a patri- 
arch's love of sheep — choice breeds thereof he had. 
* ^*' '•' He loved to give the kine fodder. It was 
pleasant to hear his talk of oxen ; and but three days 
befoTe he left the earth, too ill to visit them, his cat- 
tle, lowing, came to see their sick lord, and as he 
stood in his door, his great oxen were driven up, that 
he might smell their healthy breath, and look his last 
on those broad, generous faces that Avere never false 
to him." And yet Theodore Parker says of Mr. 
Webster, "No living man has done so much to de- 
bauch the conscience of the nation — to debauch the 
press, the pulpit, the forum, the bar!" 

Mr. Webster's love of nature, of animals, of birds 
(he would not allow them to be shot upon his 
grounds), and of children, vindicate him from the 
charge of a want of moral sentiments. His heart 



464 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

was never parched, even amid tlie burning heats of 
political life, which, alas ! blast too many kindly 
shoots of the soul. 

He loved nature passionately. The brooks, the 
hills, the valleys, the snow-clad mountains, the sun 
gilding the east with purple light, or kindling a blaze 
of splendor over all the western sky — all this he 
looked upon with a glance which took in the beauty 
and the glory of the scene. Nothing was lost upon 
him ; no sound which greeted the ear with music in 
its tones, no touch of nature upon the heavens or the 
earth which the eye could rest upon, was unheeded 
by him. He saw every thing and he heard every 
thing as a poet sees and hears the aspects and voices 
of nature. All appealed to the great deep of his 
moral nature, as the stars of heaven are mirrored in 
the bosom of the ocean. 

Lord Byron, after a night's debauch in Venice, 
stood, in the tranquil morning, before the stars had 
faded out of the sky, and he looked up to them. He 
felt their reproving glance. "These stars," he ex- 
claimed, "what nothings they make us aj)pearr' 

Wr. Webster, walking one night with a friend, 
looked up to the star-lit heavens, and rej)eated the 
eighth Psalm : " O Lord our Lord, " &c. He com- 
prehended that, while the Lord had set his glory 
above the heavens, he had made man a little lower 
than the angels, and had crowned him with glory and 
honor. 

His was not a soul to sink over2:)owered by any 
scene of nature, however magnificent or sublime ; it 
rose and kindled with the glories which surrounded 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 4G5 

it; and while he felt awed beneath the display of 
God's power and glory in the outspread heavens, he 
at the same time felt his soul swell with adoring 
gratitude to Him because He did condescend to visit 
man. 

How he loved the morning Ave may learn from his 
Hichmond letter. He explains what is meant by the 
"wings of the morning :" "Rays of light are wings;" 
and he says, "I never thought that Adam had much 
the advantage of us from having seen the world while 
it was new. The manifestations of the j)ower of God, 
like his mercies, are new every morning and fresh 
every moment. I know the morning ; I am ac- 
quainted with it, and I love it, I love it, fresh and 
sweet as it is — a daily new creation, breaking forth, 
and calling all that have life, and breath, and being 
to -new adoration, new enjoyments, and new grati- 
tude." 

His letters to John Taylor, Avho was managing 
his farm, are full of poetry. Writing in the senate- 
chamber, he translates Virgil's description of the 
opening of spring, and then asks his honest rural 
friend, "John Taylor, w^hen you read these lines, do 
you not see the snow melting from the slopes of your 
French Brook pasture, and the new grass starting and 
growing in the trickling waters, all green, bright, and 
beautiful? and do you not see your Durham oxen 
smoking from heat and perspiration, as they draw 
along your great breaking-up plow, cutting and turn- 
ing over the tough sward in your meadow in the 
great field V 

This love of nature, this blending of the soul with 

Gg 



^6Q DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

the glories and the harmonies of the universe, vindi- 
cates Mr. Webster from the monstrous accusations 
brought against him. The soul which can find its 
enjoyments in green fields, or under the heavens beam- 
ing with stars, or beside the ocean, the image of eter- 
nity, or witnessing the sports of children, or in listen- 
ing to the voices of nature, is a soul in whose depths 
the gentle charities of life may be found nestling, and 
the j)ure gems of truth are hidden. Wordsworth 
himself did not love rural life, or the country and its 
pastoral scenes, more than Webster. 

Mr. Webster's nature was full of poetry, and it was 
this that gave him his greatness, his transcendent 
greatness as an Orator. 

His intellectual j)ower was very great. He some- 
times smote his adversaries in debate with a vast 
rock, seized in his monstrous grasp, and hurled with 
a force equal to that with which Ulysses sent the 
fragment flying through the air Avhich he threw in 
the sports in wdiich he took part at the court of Al- 
cinous, upon his return from Troy : 

" Then, striding forward with a furious bound, 
He wrenched a rocky fragment /from the ground, 
By far more ponderous, and more huge by far, 
Than what Phseacia's sons discharged in air ; 
Fierce from his arm th' enormous load he flings ; 
Sonorous through the shaded air it sings ; 
Couched to the earth, tempestuous as it flies, 
The crowd gaze upward while it cleaves the skies : 
Beyond all marks, with many a giddy round, 
Down-rushing, it upturns a hill of ground." 

He pressed into his service all the elements about 
him, and he treasured up beautiful and great thoughts, 
that he might use ^emfwhen the occasion came. 




DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 467 

Standing in Quebec, and witnessing a morning 
parade of Britisli troops, lie caught an idea of the 
wide-spread power of England, which he uttered years 
after in one of his great speeches. 

He was speaking of the |)rmcz^j/e of the Revolu- 
tion, and he says of our fathers, "On. this question 
of principle, while actual suffering was yet afar off, 
they raised their flag against a power, to which, for 
purposes of foreign conquest and subjugation, Rome, 
in the height of her glory, is not to be compared ; a 
j)ower which has dotted over the surface of the whole 
globe with her possessions and military posts ; whose 
morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping 
company with the hours, circles the earth daily Avith 
one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial 
airs of England. " 

Nothing in the language which we speak is finer 
than the poetical thought which he introduces into 
his Bunker Hill speech when the great monument 
was inaugurated : 

"Let it rise — let it rise till it meet the sun in his 
coming. Let the earliest light of the morning gild 
it, and parting day linger and play on its summit." 

Another great equality in Mr. Webster's oratory 
was his acquaintance with classical literature^ and 
this, we think, ought to be noticed next to that poet- 
ical element in his nature to which we have just re- 
ferred. 

He stands without a I'ival among American states- 
men in that style of oratory, excepting only John 
Randolph, whose discursive and eccentric orations 
can hardly be classed with regular parliamentary 



468 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

speeches, and Mr. Pinkney, of Maryland, whose fame 
rests chiefly upon his arguments before the Supreme 
Court of the United States, but whose beautiful 
speech in the case of the Nereid entitles him to a 
high rank in that school. In this respect the Brit- 
ish statesmen far excel us. We read their speeches 
with delight ; they are in themselves classics. 

Two most felicitous quotations from the Iliad, which 
Mr. Webster made on two occasions of great interest 
to the country, occur to me. 

He closes his sj^eech, made on the 7th of March, 
1850, with a description of the completeness given to 
our extended territorial possessions by the acquisition 
of California. The two great oceans of the world 
then washed our borders. "We realize," he said, 
"on a mighty scale, the beautiful description of the 
ornamental border of the buckler of Achilles : 

" ' Now, the broad shield complete, the artist crowned 
With his last hand, and poured the ocean round ; 
In living silver seemed the waves to roll. 
And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the whole.' " 

The other classical quotation to which we allude 
was made in a speech delivered in the Senate, when 
Mr. Webster, after the death of General Taylor, re- 
sumed the discussion of the Compromise measures, 
which had been interrupted by that event. He paid 
a beautiful tribute to the hero-President before enter- 
ing upon his argument, and closed it with the lines 
from Homer, 

" Such honors Ilium to her hero paid, 
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." 

We can not, at this time, undertake to show the 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 469 

advantages of classical learning, but we venture to 
say that it fertilizes the mind to an extraordinary de- 
gree, and never fails to purify and elevate the tastes. 
There was . a comprehensiveness in Mr. Webster's 
range of thoughts Avhich never failed to appear in all 
that he wrote or spoke ; he never took a small view 
of a subject. This gave to his style a massiveness 
which distinguished it from that of any of his con- 
temporaries. Indeed, it was Miltonic : what the au- 
thor of Paradise Lost was among poets, Mr, Webster 
was among the writers and the orators of our times. 
His logical power was great ; and he could furnish 
an argument ponderous as a cable which would hold 
a ship of war steady to its moorings in a tempest, 
while his poetical nature, his refined taste, and his ac- 
quaintance with general literature imparted an ornate 
beauty to his style, and a magnificence, rising some- 
times into grandeur, which surpassed the noblest efibrts 
of Cicero in ancient, or of Burke, in modern times. 

There was a breadth of view in his examination 
of a question Avhich reminded one who listened to 
him of tlie . far-sweeping horizon which stretches 
around when we stand upon a mountain peak. 

All these elements, however, could not have given 
him that ascendency in the Senate which he held as 
an orator, if he had not possessed yet another qual- 
ity — Patriotism. He loved his country with a fer- 
vor that has never been surpassed. Impressive as 
he always was — great as he often was at the bar, in 
the senate-chamber, and before the j^eople — he rose 
to sublimity when he spoke of the power and glory 
of the republic, or depicted its future grandeur. An 



470 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

indescribable majesty seemed to invest his person on 
such occasions, and he stood like an ancient demi- 
god swaying the destinies of a nation. He loved 
New England ; he loved his paternal home in the 
New Hampshire hills, half hid amid the snow-drifts 
of winter ; he loved Massachusetts, which always 
cheered and sustained him ; but his love was not 
confined to New England: it was limited only by 
the remotest verg-e of the domain over which the 
eagles of his country flew. He was not a Massachu- 
setts man, nor a New England man, nor a Northern 
man ; his great soul swept beyond these narrow lim- 
its ; and while New Hamj)shire might claim him be- 
cause she gave him birth, and Massachusetts might 
claim him as her great senator, and the North might 
claim him as the noblest and proudest advocate of 
her policy, shedding the splendor of his imperial in- 
tellect over all her institutions, no section could ap- 
propriate him, for he was himself nothing less than 
an American. 

It was this that imparted the highest glory to his 
great efforts. In ordinary times he was a senator 
from the State of Massachusetts, ready to vindicate 
her policy and defend her interests, with enlarged na- 
tional views, it is true, all the while ; but when a great 
crisis came, which involved the stability of the gov- 
ernment, or threatened the glory of the rej)ublic, his 
soul expanded under the intense fires of patriotism, 
and his eye, like that of the eagle in the blaze of 
noonday splendor, swept the remotest verge of the 
country, and he forgot all lesser distinctions in the 
proud consciousness that he was an American sen- 
ator. 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 471 ^ 

The greatest speech which he ever uttered was 
made in reply to Mr. Hayne. That speech, whether 
we regard the inasnitude of the interests which it re- 
viewed, the danger which impended over the institu- 
tions of the country, the effect produced by its deliv- 
ery, or the amazing grandeur of the effort itself, was 
as important and as imj)ressive as a battle. 

All the great elements which entered into the com- 
position of Mr. Webster's character were displayed 
in it. The figure with Avhich it opens, the allusion 
to the mariner, who has for days lost sight of the 
heavens, availing himself of the first pause in the 
storm to take his latitude ; his tribute to Massachu- 
setts ; his passionate declaration of his purpose to 
stand by American liberty, or to fall with it amid 
the proudest monuments of her glory ; his great ar- 
gument in defense of the integrity of the federal gov- 
ernment ; and his triumphant and sublime perora- 
tion, closing with the memorable words, "Liberty 
AND Union, now and forever, one and inseparable" — 
all were characteristic of the orator, who was the liv- 
ing impersonation of the idea which has come down 
to us from ancient Greece of transcendent eloquence 
like that of Demosthenes when he delivered the Ora- 
tion for the Crown. 

Over the senate-chamber the American flag was 
flying, and through the glass dome its folds might be 
seen floating in the breeze, as Mr. Webster uttered 
that passage which described it bearing those words 
emblazoned upon it in characters of living light ; and 
while the effect upon the audience which thronged 
every spot within the reach of his voice was over- 



472 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

whelming, the words still ring in our ears, and the 
scene will be preserved by History and Painting as 
one of the most memorable and impressive which has 
occurred in the fortunes of the republic. 

But we can not linger this evening over scenes 
which attract us. We must content ourselves with 
a hurried glance at the great man whose form so 
lately towered among us so stately and majestic, 
and of whose sudden prostration we think, as Thack- 
eray says of Lingo, with emotions such as Ave expe- 
rience when we think of the fall of an empire. 

As a lawyer, Mr. Webster's fame was as high as 
that which he had acquired as a statesman. From 
the day when he delivered his argument before the 
Supreme Court of the United States in the Dart- 
mouth College case, he took rank with the foremost 
men of the profession ; and amid all the engrossing 
demands upon his time and his intellect Avhich his 
political duties made, he not only did not recede as a 
lawyer, but his reputation steadily grew to tlie last. 
His clear, strong, comprehensive sense enabled him 
to state a case in a way that made it almost unnec- 
essary to argue it afterward. 

We should be unjust to Mr. Webster, and unjust 
to others, and unjust to that philosophy which ought 
always to shine through such an analysis as Ave have 
attempted, if we did not add that Mr. Webster's most 
intimate friends attributed his great success in life as 
an intellectual man to labor. He Avas laborious to 
an amazing degree, and he tasked his powers to their 
utmost range. Habitually an early riser, his Avork 
for the day was Avell advanced before other men had 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 473 

risen from sleep. Well might he say, "I know the 
morning, and I love it." 

As a statesman he performed signal services. His 
papers Avritten when Secretary of State will forever 
adorn our annals. His letter to Lord Ashburton on 
the right of search, in which he declares that an 
American sailor must find his protection in the flag 
that floats over him • his reply to the Austrian paper 
presented by Mr. Hulseman, in- which -he vindicates 
the principle of popular rights against the imperious 
and despotic doctrines of a nation whose territory, in 
comparison with our own, is but little more than a 
patch on the earth's surface — a letter which spread 
through Europe, rousing all the popular enthusiasm, 
so that the oflice of the American consul at Athens 
was thronged w^ith visitors eager to see that proud 
defense of freedom — these and others will rank with 
the state papers of any country or of any times. 
His politics must not now be discussed ; but we may 
be allowed to say that it is the crowning glory of his 
career that the last great utterance which he ever 
made — his speech of the 7th of March, 1850 — was an 
utterance of great and patriotic sentiments, sounding 
out through the whole land ; apj^ealing to Massachu- 
setts to stand by the Constitution ; assuriiig the South 
of his purpose to carry out the provisions of the na- 
tional compact ; calling upon the country, as a con- 
script father might have appealed to Home, to be 
true to herself — an utterance which will sound out 
to future ages. 

It was a heroic speech, and entitled him to the 
name which his friends had long ago given him of 
" Defender of the Constitution. " 



474 DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 

Such a man was 

"Not for an age, 
But for all time." 

Turning away from the Capitol, quitting his de- 
partment of state with a heart yearning for the 
quiet of home, the fresh pure air of the sea-shore to 
fan his fevered cheek, and the endearments of kin- 
dred to soothe his declining days, the great statesman 
went to Marshfield : he went there -to die. 

These last days were as full of solemn grandeur as 
the light streaming through the stained-glass win- 
dows of a cathedral. The statesman is lost sight of; 
we see only the man. There are words uttered which 
disclose the deep religious sentiment that was an ele- 
ment in his nature ; words of trust in God ; broken 
utterances as to His rod and His staff sujDporting the 
steps about to enter the valley of the shadow of 
death ; words that tell how much of poetry there was 
in his heart ; broken lines of Gray's Elegy in a Coun- 
try Church-yard, 

" The curfew tolls the knell of parting day ;" 

and a solemn, final leave-taking of the loved ones of 
his household. 

Then the light faded out of those large, lustrous 
eyes, and Webster was dead. 

Wherever the tidings spread, the flag of the coun- 
try drooped ; men were startled in high j)laces and 
in humble ones ; some wept ; and all who could 
reach Marshfield went to look upon the dead majesty 
of the nation, as it lay in the deep, tranquil sleep of 
death, under the spreading boughs of an immense tree, 
which had often sheltered its lord when living. 



DANIEL WEBSTER HIS GENIUS AND CHARACTER. 475 

What a career closed there ! a career far the most 
brilliant which has been seen in this country. 

We heard of his death as we should have received 
the intelligence of a national calamity. 

The shock was like that we should experience if 
we stood by and witnessed the fall of a castle, from 
whose battlements banners had been flung out, and 
through whose embrasures artillery had thundered, 
and at whose base the proudest armaments had per- 
ished. 

His last days exhibited all the serene grandeur of 
his nature. His soul, tmming away from the world 
and its objects, fixed its gaze upon the illimitable fu- 
ture, which spread before it like a shoreless ocean, 
upon whose tranquil waters the Star of Bethlehem 
threw its tremulous and unearthly lustre. 

His hand recorded his clear and emphatic confes- 
sion of faith in the Redeemer, and in the divine in- 
spiration of the Gospel. 

Those last days, what a glory streams through 
"them — glory not without its shadows ! 

The last hours of the life of the dying statesman 
resembled a gorgeous sunset ; not the going down of 
a tropical sun in unclouded splendor, but the sun 
sinking behind the Alps, kindling upon every mount- 
ain peak a blaze of glory, and pouring a flood of 
golden light upon the clouds which hung their sol- 
emn drapery about his dying couch. 



WOMAN— HER TRUE SPHERE. 

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF LA GRANGE FE- 
MALE COLLEGE, LA GRANGE, GEORGIA, JULY 12th, 1854. 

In all the visible universe, crowded as it is with an 
endless variety of objects, there reigns every where 
an unbroken harmony. An unseen law stretches 
its resistless dominion throughout its boundless ex- 
tent, and every thing obeys it — the smallest and the 
greatest; the flower which, with fragile stem, lifts 
its head to greet the light, and the constellations 
which move in their brilliant and illimitable courses 
through the heavens. 

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory 
of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one 
star difFereth from another star in glory." 

The sun drives his chariot of flame up the steep 
of heaven and down its western slope ; the moon 
floats through the serene sky in tranquil majesty, 
and the splendid constellations' rule the night ; yet 
every where, from the northern to the southern pole, 
there is no sound of discord, but all things display 
a blended power and wisdom, which we see with 
wonder and adoration, and, adding our voices to 
swell the mighty anthem which Nature utters, in 
tones Avhich reach the throne of God, we exclaim, 
"All thy works praise Thee." 

So, too, in the elements which seem to strive with 
each other — they are made to contribute to the hap- 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 477 

piness of man and the beauty of the universe. The 
ocean, in its sublimity, dashes against its barriers, 
and threatens to submerge the world ; but it has its 
appointed bounds that it can not pass ; its proud 
waves are stayed by a silent, but all-pervading and 
resistless power; and the winds, which swell into 
tempests, would spread desolation over the earth if 
they were not restrained by that Almighty hand which 
guides and sustains all things. 

All the works of God, so far as we can see them, 
display order and adaptation. If we could stand 
with Uriel in the sun, and look out upon the uni- 
verse, we should see its order and its beauty, and the 
ear would catch the notes of the great hymn of praise 
which, from all the spheres, floats u^^ward to the Cre- 
ator. 

Even in this world of ours all sights and all sounds 
are made to blend in harmony. Standing upon the 
mountains of Switzerland, the traveler sees spread 
out before him a wide landscape of wonderful beau- 
ty: mountain peaks against the sky, the luminous 
clouds, the wild torrents, the picturesque cottages, 
the awful frown of Mont Blanc, covered with ever- 
lasting snow, and all the varied objects which come 
within the range of vision, are blended into one pic- 
ture ; while the sounds which greet the ear — the song 
of the Swiss girl, the wild call of the peasant as he 
shouts to his flocks, or sings that song so dear to ev- 
ery exile from his country, no matter where he hears 
it, "i?o7?2 des vaches''' — all are blended in sweetness, 
and captivate the soul. 

The very soul of the universe, is harmony. 



478 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

Throughout the whole cuxle of created beings 
there is an endless diversity, and yet an unbroken 
order. If we ascend to the shining ranks of angelic 
hosts, we find that the same great laAV prevails. 
There are angels that excel in strength, and there is 
a gradation visible in the glorious forms which are 
marshaled, tier above tier, about the everlasting 
throne, from Michael, "of celestial armies prince,"" and 
Gabriel, "in military prowess next," and Uriel, who, 
seated in the sun, sees the whole circle of created 
worlds, down to the humblest worshiper in the whole 
court of Heaven ; for 

" Order is Heaven's first law, and this confess'd, 
Some are, and must be, greater than the rest." 

It is the beautiful assurance of revelation that God 
created man in his own image. He invested him 
with dominion over all terrestrial things. Having 
made him a little lower than the angels, he crowned 
him with glory and honor. 

Not silently and darkly did man rise up into be- 
ing, like the beasts, deriving their life from the earth, 
but he was created directly by the power of God, in 
the midst of adoring hosts of attendant angels, who 
filled the whole circle of the heavens, to witness the 
introduction into the ranks of intelligent and immor- 
tal beings of man. 

Peerless he stood and surveyed the young world, 
glowino; in the freshness and verdure of the mornino; 
of creation. His dominion eml^raced the round 
world, and he was without a rival in his extended 
empire. 

Tlien, because it was not good for man to be alone, 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 479 

woman was created, the elements of her being derived 
from him, and she was given to him as a compan- 
ion. Up to that moment even Paradise was a soli- 
tude. 

" In vain the viewless seraph, lingering there 
At starry midnight, charm'd the silent air ; 
In vain the wild bird carol'd on the steep, 
To hail the sun slow wheeling from the deep ; 
In vain, to soothe the solitary shade, 
Aerial notes in mingling measure played — 
The summer wind, that shook the spangled tree ; 
The whispering wave, the murmur of the bee — 
Still slowly passed the melancholy day, 
And still the stranger wist not where to stray : 
The world was sad ! the garden was a wild ! 
And man, the hermit, sighed till woman smiled." 

Yet, although the world was sad, and even Para- 
dise a wild until woman appeared in its green depths 
and scented bowers, still, upon her coming, the same 
great law Avhich the universe had hitherto displayed 
— ^the law of order and of harmony — was recognized 
in the relations which the two newly-created beings 
bore to each other. The whole structure of man — 
the qualities of his body and of his mind — differed 
from those displayed by woman. 

Nor was the dominion of man disputed by his new 
companion and friend ; for while he bore rule still in 
the midst of the world which lay subject to him, she 
acknowledged his authority, looked up to him for 
protection, and gently rested her head, clustering 
with curls, upon his broad, firm breast. 

Milton's description of Adam and Eve, as they 
walked in Paradise, is exquisitely beautiful, and it 
discloses the just and true relation which should, in 
all time, exist between two beings whom God has 



480 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

formed to be companions through this earthly pil- 
grimage. 

" Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, 
Godlike erect, with native honor clad 
In naked majesty, seem'd lords of all. 
And worthy seem'd ; for in their looks divme 
The image of their glorious Maker shone — 
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure 
(Severe, but in true filial wisdom placed) — 
Whence true authority in men ; though both 
Not equal, as their sex not equal seem'd : 
For contemplation he and valor form'd ; 
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace ; 
He for God only, she for God in him : 
His fair, large front, and eye sublime, declared 
Absolute rule ; and hyacinthine locks 
Round from his parted forelock manly huno- 
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad ; 
She, as a veil, down to the slender waist, 
Her unadorned golden tresses wore 
Dishevel'd, but in wanton ringlets waved 
As the vine curls her tendrils ; which implied 
Subjection, but required with gentle sway, 
And by her yielded, by him best received ; 
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, 
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay." 

The sphere of man is widely different from that of 
woman, and there can be no rivalry between two be- 
ings formed with faculties so diverse and for objects 
so dissimilar. 

There have been instances in the history of our 
race of men who have lost all manliness, and resign- 
ed themselves to effeminate pursuits — men who, 
shrinking from the stern duties of life, have regarded 
its great tasks with as much aversion as the king's 
messenger, sent to demand Hotspur s prisoners, did 
the rough and perilous scenes of the battle-field — 
men who, forgetting the true dignity of manhood, 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 481 

take no part in the mighty achievements of the brave 
world about us, but 

" They caper nimbly in a lady's chamber 
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute." 

And there have been women who have lost all the 
gentle and attractive grace of their sex, and, pressing 
into the empire which belongs exclusively to man, 
have disputed the dominion of the world with him. 
It is but rarely that such instances fail to disgust us. 
We expect to see every man inanly^ and every wom- 
an ivomanly. 

Paris, when compared with Hector, sinks into con- 
tempt — flying from the battle-field to the arms of 
Helen, he rests ingioriously, while the helmet of Hec- 
tor blazes in the serried ranks of war, and his dread 
spear drives back the invading Greeks — while Joan 
of Arc, with her splendid qualities and heroic virtue, 
leading the marshaled hosts of France from victory to 
victory, until she planted the drooping lilies of her 
country over fortresses and cities wrested from the 
English troops, is less lovely in our eyes than the 
gentle maiden who follows in the red path of battle 
only to stanch the wound of the dying soldier, and 
to hold the cup of Avater to his parched lips. 

Man is formed for great exploits. It is his task 
to scale the mountain heights, to traverse continents, 
to explore the wide seas, to build cities, to fell for- 
ests, to contend with wild beasts, and redeem the 
earth from their incursions ; to sow the seed and gath- 
er harvests ; to stand in battle, to lead armies ; to 
preach the everlasting Gospel, and to guide all pub- 
lic affairs. These tasks become a man. 

Hh 



482 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

But woman's sphere is widely different. It is hers 
to shed around home those dear delights which she 
alone can impart to it ; to cheer hours which, with- 
out her presence, would be lonely or sad ; to encour- 
age all the virtues ; to walk by the side of man, as an 
angel in the wilderness, guiding him to celestial 
realms ; and to illustrate all the charities of life by 
her sweet example. 

The harmony which we see every where in the uni- 
verse is still undisturbed by the delightful inter- 
course between two beings so closely allied, and yet 
so unlike. 

We do not expect to find in woman the sublime 
qualities which belong to man — those qualities which 
entitle him to absolute rule ; but her loveliness is 
none the less for the want of them. In that sj^len- 
did j)icture which is so vividly sketched in Ivanhoe, 
when Hichard Coeur de Lion attacks the castle of 
Front de BoBuf, our admiration is divided between 
the Black Knight, who thunders with his ponderous 
battle-axe against the gates, heedless of the missiles 
showered upon his head from the defenders on the 
Avails, and the gentle Rebecca, who, looking through 
the lattice with blenched cheek, describes the waver- 
ing fortunes of the battle to the wounded Ivanhoe, 
who is unable to rise from his couch. 

In the sacred history which records the early events 
of the world, we read with admiration the account 
that is given of the heroic courage of Moses. The 
great leader of the hosts of Israel, when the cry rose 
in all the ranks that the Egyptians were pursuing, 
exclaimed, in tones that were heard above the confu- 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 483 

sion and noise of the panic-stricken people — above 
the rush of the impetuous army marching down upon 
them — above the roar of the sea upon whose margin 
they stood, "Stand still and see the salvation of 
God!" It was Moses who, after conducting the 
tribes through the waters which stood up on either 
side as a wall, stretched forth that potent rod whose 
awful sweep brought back the wild and surging bil- 
lows over the army of Pharaoh ; but it w^as Miriam 
who took a timbrel in her hand, and invited the beau- 
tiful women of Israel to follow her with timbrels 
and dances ; and all joined in that grand song of 
triumph which swelled in tones of majestic sweet- 
ness over the rolling sea, "Sing ye to the Lord, for 
He hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider 
hath He thrown into the sea." 

It was David whose proAvess slew the haughty 
champion who defied the armies of Israel, but it was 
the tcomen of Israel who came out from all the cities, 
singing and dancing, to meet him, with tabrets, with 
joy, aild with instruments of music. 

It is becoming in man to achieve victories, it is 
liccomins: in woman to celebrate them. 

In the magnificent description of the royal Psalm- 
ist, the sun is compared to a bridegroom coming out 
of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run 
a race. 

Thomson, in that poem which will live as long as 
the Seasons which he describes continue to visit the 
earth witli flowers, and fruits, and golden harvests in 
their train, says of the rising sun, 

" But yonder comes the powerful king of day, 
Rejoicing in the east." 



484 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

Edmund Burke, in his description of the unfor- 
tunate Maria Antoinette, says : • 

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw 
the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Ver- 
sailles, and surely never lighted on this orb, which 
she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. 
I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and 
cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move 
in, glittering like the morning star, full of life, and 
splendor, and joy." 

No comparisons can be more felicitous than these ; 
for, independent of their beauty, they illustrate the 
qualities which distinguish the sexes. Man is the 
sun, in his strength and splendor ; woman the morn- 
ing star, glittering in pure and tranquil beauty. 

Nor is this endless diversity and this all-pervading 
harmony which we see in the universe without de- 
simi. It is a laiv of the universe. We read it in 
the sublime scenery of the heavens in which the 
irreat constellations run their courses — where Arctu- 
rus and his sons exhibit their nightly splendors, and 
Orion leads up his burning hosts, and the Pleiades 
shed their sweet influences, and Mazzaroth marshals 
his glorious stars over the southern pole ; and we 
trace it in the violet that springs up in the depths of 
the forest, and in the fragile flower that blooms in ex- 
quisite beauty in the very verge of the crater of the 
volcano, as if planted there to teach the adventurous 
traveler who explores the wild scenery that God's 
dominion is every where. 

Not only in the visible imiverse, but in the spirit- 
ual world does this law prevail, binding systems in 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 485 

unbroken order, and keeping all intelligent beings in 
subjection to the ordinances of the Most High, 

It is a glorious thought, that every where through- 
out the extended universe, where the remotest world 
gleams like a pale star upon the farthest horizon, 
and out upon the wide seas ever heaving against the 
poles ; in the untrodden solitudes of the wilderness, 
and in all the ranks of living beings, from thrones 
and dominions in heaven down to the fallen spirits 
whose unblessed feet tread the burning marl of the 
infernal regions, we can still trace the great law of 
order which binds all things and preserves all things 
in unbroken harmony. 

Woman in her sphere, moving in willing and beau- 
tiful accord w^ith this law, is one of the loveliest ob- 
jects which the universe presents ; and while she 
seems only to adorn the career of man as a subject 
of his empire, her gentle dominion is as wide, and 
her sway as absolute, if not as imperious, as that of 
man. In all times, ancient and modern, she has been 
the cherished object of affection. Her part in the 
history of our race has been at once momentous, sad, 
and glorious. 

She first plucked the fruit 

"Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
Brought death into tlie world, and all our wo, 
With loss of Eden." 

Our great sire was not deceived; but Eve, being 
tempted, transgressed, and Adam, from boundless af- 
fection for her, took the forbidden fruit from her 
hands. 

But it Av^as a vfoman, too, a virgin of innocence 



486 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

and l3eauty, Avho was the mother of our Lord, whose 
all-conquering arm brought us salvation, and rescued 
us from the ruin into Avhich our race was plunged by 
that first fatal step. 

Let not woman be rej^roached with her first fault 
without we, at the same time, recall that virgin moth- 
er. Place the two pictures side by side ; compare 
Eve, with wandering steps and slow, quitting Para- 
dise, and looking back, Avith tearful eyes, to that once 
happy seat, wdth Mary, lifting her meek and glowing 
face toward heaven, and exclaiming, 

' ' My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
hath rejoiced in God my Savior ; 

"For he hath regarded the low estate of his hand- 
maiden : for behold, from henceforth all generations 
shall call me blessed." 

Since that hour when the blessed Virmn sano- that 
sweet song of joyful and grateful adoration, the whole 
world of love and beauty has acknowledged her do- 
minion. The true estimate of woman was unknown 
before. LTp to that hour, the homage paid by man 
to the other sex was the wild passion which reveled 
in voluptuous delights, and w^hich was symbolized in 
the form of Venus rising from the placid waters to 
rule the realm of love. 

Beautiful but sensual, that type of passion is still 
to be seen as the ancient mythology produced it ; the 
naked form of the Venus de Medici still lives in 
marble as the chisel of the sculptor traced it in lines 
of classic and immortal grace. 

That symbol, beautiful as it is, represents the do- 
minion of woman over the senses, but does not sug- 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 487 

gest the tenderness and purity of love in its true 
power. 

Even in the wild extravagance of the days of chiv- 
alry there was a refining influence in the adoration 
of the knight for his lady-love : it impelled him to 
noble deeds ; he wore in his helmet some slight me- 
morial of her regard, and sought glory in the fierce 
battles of the times, that she might hear his praises 
sung. 

This devoted and noble attachment to woman was 
uttered in songs of wild and romantic beauty, and 
the whole picture wears a golden haze, which reveals 
nothing gross or revolting. 

From the hour when the Christian system began 
to gild the world with its rising light, and to purify 
the heart by its refining influence, a true regard for 
woman — for her person and her character — has been 
manifested. 

Now, the ideal of female beauty is no longer per- 
sonified in the faultless form of Venus, but we turn 
to the lovely Virgin dwelling amid the hills of Judea, 
and recognize her as supreme in the realm of woman. 
Turning away from the graceful form of the ancient 
Queen of Love in faultless marble, we fix our eyes, 
s^\imming in tears, upon some picture of Raphael 
which represents the Virgin Mother, her face full of 
deep spiritual meaning, as if she would read the fu- 
ture and learn the destiny of that wonderful Child 
set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. 

How immeasurably does the Christian impersona- 
tion of beauty surpass that which is presented to us 
in the highest type of loveliness which genius could 



488 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

produce under the inspiration of mythology ! "Wom- 
an is now regarded as an immortal being ; she is to 
tread the path of life by the side of man, his truest 
friend in his earthly pilgrimage, cheering the dark- 
est hours with her tender sympathy, and shedding a 
brighter lustre over his happier ones by sharing his 
bliss. 

It is as a wife and a mother that woman is now 
to display her noblest qualities ; and her ambition — 
if we may give this name to her desire to excel — 
must not seek its gratification in the great world, but 
must be content with the quiet but hallowed compass 
of home. There she moves — a light, a blessing, and 
a glory ; and she reconstructs for man a new Para- 
dise on earth, brighter and happier than the Eden 
which she lost for him. Man, expelled from the 
bowers of the eastern garden by the fault of woman, 
finds in a home lighted by her love Paradise regained. 

It is not because she is inferior to man that wom- 
an is to take no part in the great affairs of life, but 
it is because she is far more beautiful in her own em- 
pire than she could be by quitting it to mingle in 
scenes which would unfit her for the gentler duties 
and those lovely offices which not even an angel could 
perform so well. In her own orbit she is peerless, 
and amid the sanctities of home she shines with her 
true lustre. Capricious as she sometimes is in the 
world, and moving in the circles of fashion, she re- 
veals in the chamber of suffering the true qualities 
of her nature. 

" woman ! in our hours of ease, 
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, 



WOMAN HER TIIUE SPHERE. 489 

And variable as the shade 
By the light, quivering aspen made — 
When pain and anguish wring the brow, 
I A ministering angel thou 1" 

Sir Walter Scott pays this tribute to Clara de 
Clare, as she stoops to hold to the lips of the wound- 
ed Marmion the water borne by her in the baron's 
casque to slake his thirst. Brought by his attendants 
to the spot where the captive maiden was detained to 
await the issue of that bloody fight of Floddenfield, 
she forgets all wrongs, and hastens to relieve the dy- 
ing man. 

The picture is as full of truth as it is of beauty. 

Elizabeth ruled her realm with extraordinary suc- 
cess ; her genius and capacity excited universal admi- 
ration. During her reign the power and the glory 
of England grew into the grandest proportions, and 
the diadem which encircled her brow shone with the 
greatest splendor. Mounted on a splendid horse, 
and riding at the head of an immense concourse of 
her subjects through the streets of London, to offer 
up thanks in the gi'eat Protestant Cathedral of Saint 
Paul's for the destruction of the Spanish Armada, 
she was a splendid spectacle — a magnificent imjDer- 
sonation of regal power; but who does not really 
feel a deeper and tenderer interest in the fortunes of 
the beautiful Mary Queen of Scots sighing in captiv- 
ity, or even in those of the humbler and less culti- 
vated Amy Pobsart, the daughter of an obscure Dev- 
onshire gentleman, who lost her life in her eagerness 
to greet the Earl of Leicester as he rode by the side 
of liis royal mistress at the castle of Kenilworth ? 

The reigning Queen of England interests us far 



490 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

more as a wife and a mother than as a sovereioii: 
for while she commits the fortunes of that empire — 
so boundless that the sun never sets upon it — to her 
ministers, she herself rears her children, who cluster 
about her with all the fond affection which we should 
look for in an humble cottage home. Victoria, seat- 
ed upon the throne in the House of Lords, and read- 
ing her royal sjDeech upon the opening of Parliament, 
surrounded by all that is gorgeous in the British em- 
pire — the lords, the commons, the great officers of 
the realm, foreign embassadors, and a vast assemblage 
of ladies of rank, all in the richest and most splendid 
costume — is merely a brilliant pageant ; but in the 
inner apartments of Windsor Castle, that superb 
country seat, unrivaled by any royal palace in the 
world, she is a woman, a wife, and a mother, the 
centre of a family group, and performing offices at 
once the most beautiful which this world ever pre- 
sents, and so closely connected with a future life that 
the light of immortality lends its sublime coloring to 
the picture. 

This, then, is woman's true empire. Her author- 
ity is maintained, not by sword and spear, but by all 
the sweet and attractive graces which constitute the 
art of pleasing. 

The j^9e?'S07i, the onincl, and the heart must all re- 
ceive attention, if she would make her rule lasting 
in her own dominion. 

She does not compel, but she attracts. We resist 
her authority when she seems to demand our homage, 
but we yield a willing obedience to her sway when 
she binds us by the affections. 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 491 

Cleopatra captivated Julius Caisar when she was 
but twenty years of age, and she held Marc Antony 
in inglorious bondage at twenty-five. But does any 
one imagine that Caesar, the noblest Koman of them 
all, was attracted by the mere personal beauty of the 
youthful Queen of Egypt? 

He was remarkable for the vigor of his mind and 
the manliness of his character ; he marched at the 
head of his legions to the most distant and inhospi- 
table countries, and while his secretaries were borne 
on litters, he rode on horseback ; the rains of Gaul 
did not interrupt his marches, nor did angry streams 
impede him ; he bore the eagles of his country in tri- 
umph over all enemies, whether cultivated or barba- 
rian ; and he recorded the progress of his arms in a 
style so beautiful, that his commentaries are still read 
for their classic elegance. His ambition was bound- 
less ; and though his person was tall and slender, and 
appeared to be incapable of great exertions, he dis- 
played extraordinary energy. He blended strength 
and elegance in a remarkable degree. 

Yet it is quite authentic that he could not resist 
the fascination of Cleoj^atra, but for a time yielded 
himself to her charms. 

Five years later, Antony, being in the East, saw 
Cleopatra, and surrendered himself to her completely. 
In his wild passion, Rome, Octavia, and glory were 
all forgotten, and at her feet he lay down his share 
in that powerful triumvirate which held the majestic 
world in subjection. In her presence his character- 
istic energy was lost, and his conquering legions, 
ready for battle and victory, lay in inglorious idle- 



492 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

ness, while he, their leader, bound by a spell which 
he could not break, passed his time in the gilded 
apartments of the Queen of Egypt. 

No mere personal beauty could have eifected such 
conquests as these. Cleopatra jDossessed far higher 
charms than mere grace of person. She is described 
in history as possessing an infinite variety of accom- 
plishments — the rarest literary acquirements, a 
knowledge of languages only equaled in ancient times 
by that attributed to Mithridates, the marvelous king 
of Pontus, the finest taste in the arts, an unexplain- 
able grace in her manners, the most bewitching 
powers of conversation, and a tone of voice which 
made those j^owers irresistible. There was a won- 
derful fascination in the tone of her voice, and there 
was about her an Oriental voluptuousness and an ir- 
resistible grace ; but without her mental accomplish- 
ments, her brilliant conversation, her noble sjDirit, the 
grandeur of her character, and her fascinating man- 
ners, she would never have been the enchantress she 
Avas, bringing to her feet the 25i*oudest rulers of the 
world, and holding in subjection such men as Caesar, 
with his soaring ambition and powerful intellect, and 
Antony, renowned for his valor and his eloquence. 

Her death was characteristic : with no religion to 
sustain her but that of the Egyptians, which threw a 
voluptuous elegance over life, and gave the fullest 
license to the senses, she resolved to die rather than 
grace the triumphal train of Octavius. Adorned in 
her richest robes, the body of the dead Antony by 
her side on a golden couch, anointing herself with 
costly perfumes, the diadem of Egypt encircling her 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 4:\)6 

])row, she applied the asp to her veins, and sunk into 
languor, forgetfulness, and death. 

Beauty is always attractive; but no woman who 
aspires to a lasting dominion, either over the great 
world, or, which is far better, over a single heart, 
ought to trust to personal charms. 

Even while they bloom, though it be in j)eerless 
splendor, they are less potent than the sweet spirit 
of a true woman beaming from her eyes, and a culti- 
vated mind revealing its treasures in conversation. 
Such a woman Avakes the soul within us, and binds 
us by a fascination which far transcends the strength 
of mere joassion kindled by beauty. An intellectual, 
cultivated woman, of sweet temper, will hold us in 
pleasing bonds long after the decline of her personal 
charms, and we might address her in those lines of 
exquisite tenderness and beauty, 

" Thou wouklst still be adored, as this moment thou art, 
Let thy loveliness fade as it will, 
And round the dear ruin each wish of my heart 
Would twine itself verdantly still." 

The first great element which we desire to see in 
female character is virtuous principle ; not a mere 
disposition to conform to conventional requirements, 
but a heart really pure and fond of goodness. With- 
out this, no beauty, no intellectual cultivation, no ac- 
complishments, can make a woman really lovely. It 
is this property which 

" Gives to woman every tender grace, 
The smile of angels to a mortal face." 

In this world, so full of vicissitude, and over 
whose expanding scenes the clouds of the future, 



494 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

darker or brighter, will rise, there is much to try us; 
and in seeking a gentle friend to tread the rough pil- 
grimage of life by our side, Ave wish to find in her a 
sweetness of temper Avhich nothing can disturb, and 
a cheerful spirit which flings its smile over the shad- 
OAvs of life, and if it can not disperse, at least gilds 
them. 

Philosophy Avill not do ; intellectual resources Avill 
fail; books Avill open their pages to us in vain ; mu- 
sic AAdll lose its charms ; amusements Avill cease to at- 
tract us ; and even society may no longer interest us ; 
but we can still turn to the angel of our home, and 
find in her beaming and haj)py face a solace for all 
our disappointments in the rough, Avide, and heartless 
AA^orld. 

The religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 
is essential to the j^erfection of female character : it 
is the only resource Avhich the ills of life can not ex- 
haust. 

Charity never faileth. 

An infidel of our own sex is odious enough ; a 
Avoman Avho rejects Christianity is an object of un- 
mixed and unmeasured aversion. 

It is her task to train her children, to fit them for 
this life and for that which is to come, and to cheer 
her husband Avhen cares press upon him ; and this 
she can not do unless, like Hope, she leans upon an 
anchor Avhich never gives Avay. 

Such, young ladies, are our vIcaa^s of Avoman. 

One of the most promising signs of the times in 
Avhich AA^e live is the extraordinary attention paid to 
the education of your sex. Such institutions as this 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 495 

are glorious exponents of tlie progress of the nine- 
teenth century. Here woman moves in her true 
spliere, and her influence over the great social life 
which our country exhibits is powerful. 

When in Europe, we saw gorgeous palaces, and 
great schools of art, and noble monuments commem- 
orating battles Avliich have decided the fortunes of 
the world, and an endless variety of objects of inter- 
est, but nowhere did we see any thing more beauti- 
ful than this spectacle which we witness to-day. 

In this country all the material elements abound, 
and we shall yet excel in the arts which give such 
a chann to life. In all that is grand, and beautiful, 
and truly great, we shall steadily grow, until we at- 
tain the higliest civilization which the world has ever 
j)roduced. It should be our aim so to train our sons 
and our daughters in this great republic that they 
may be worthy of the grand destiny which opens be- 
fore them in the boundless future. Some of you are 
about to take leave of this institution. Go forth 
as ministering angels ; make the world better and 
haj)pier as you pass along through it. So far you 
have been engaged in the work of preparation, but 
real life now opens before you. No one can read the 
future : there is no astrologer at hand to consult the 
starlit heavens and reveal your destiny. This is 
wisely ordered: we are taught to trust to the guid- 
ance of an invisible hand. There are all about us 
influences which act upon us in life : we can only re- 
solve to do our duty, and commit our fortunes to the 
Deity. Exclude from your minds the doctrine of 
chance ; adhere firmly to principle, and in this well- 



496 WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE. 

ordered universe you will find that you tread life's 
paths safely ; the ground beneath your feet will be 
firm, and the heavens above will light you on your 
way. 

Be cheerful, that you may be happy, and contrib- 
ute to the happiness of others ; but regard life seri- 
ously, as the field of duty and the scene of jDrepara- 
tion for heaven. 

One of the most gifted of your own sex. Madam 
de Stael, in her work on Germany, says, "If Ave ex- 
amine the course of human destiny, we shall see that 
levity conducts to all that is bad in the world. It is 
only in infancy that levity charms : it seems that the 
Creator yet leads the infant by the hand, and aids it 
to enter gently upon the clouds of life. But when 
time delivers the man to himself, it is only in seri- 
ousness of soul that he finds thoughts, sentiments, 
and virtues." 

Be true to yourselves. Modern civilization, with 
all its ameliorations, has a tendency to give too much 
consideration to wealth. Advantasres in life are not 
to be overlooked, and in forming lasting engagements 
prudence ought to be regarded. But woman should 
never sacrifice herself, nor permit others to sacrifice 
her, for money. Noble qualities, a cultivated intel- 
lect, and a great soul, are worth more than all the 
money the world ever produced. 

Biches take wings, and often leave their j^ossessor 
to sink as Icarus did when his waxen j^inions melted 
in the sun ; but a true man continues to grow in 
public consideration and in real worth, rising from 
poverty and obscurity to the highest stations in life. 



WOMAN HER TRUE SPHERE, 497 

And now, young ladies, I must take leave of you. 
It may be said of you, as it was of our first parents, 

" The world is all before you, where to choose 
Your place of rest, and Providence your guide." 

May the world be bright before you, and your 
steps, as they advance in its paths, be guided by 
Providence gently and safely, so that you may come, 
when your earthly pilgrimage is ended, to that glori- 
ous city where there is no need of the sun by day, 
nor of the moon by night, but the Lord God himself 
lights it up with his own everlasting splendor. 

Ii 



THE END. 



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